When a Savior is Saved
by Ashishu
Summary: When Taki is possessed by a demon, a foreign warrior of the gods helps out, guess who P. Yuri, deal with it!
1. Temple of Spirits

My first fanfic. So go easy on me! I do not own any of the Soul Calibur characters, wish i did, but can't.... damn!

This might contain a little yuri between Taki and Sophitia, get over it. The time of this encounter between these two characters is before Sophitia destroys one of the two soul edge swords (Think of Soul Blade).

"..." Speaking

'...' Thoughts

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Chapter 1: Temple of Spirits (Sophitia's Thoughts for now)

'Ugh! Why did Hephaestus have to send me on a mission so far away from home! These Japanese forests are so dark and thick, and I can't read the signs at crossroads.'

Sophitia had been walking through the forests for a few days now and its ominous feeling was slowly creeping up her back. It was night and the fear that a swift assassin or samurai would suddenly turn up behind her and slice her in half just as she turns around to face the new foe would jump at her whenever the night came.

'I just hope this shrine that Hephaestus spoke of is close. He told me to find the shrine and offer this Sword of Light to the shrine's keeper to ward off demons more effectively. What a strange sword it is...'

Her eyes cast down to the sword packed in a brown leather bag, it had a long blade with a golden hilt like an English knight's sword only the hilt's sides point themselves forwards at the ends, going parallel with the blade and looking like either thin wings or could possibly symbolize rays of light from the heavens. It was indeed a strange sword to her tastes, it looks nothing like a Greek sword, plus it was quite heavy due to its long blade.

'How can a person possibly use a weapon as heavy as this swiftly in combat I'll never know...'

She swung the bag over her shoulder once again as she caught sight of an opening in the forest. It looked like a stone shrine in the distance.

"Finally." Sophitia spoke to herself with a sigh as her straining muscles relaxed slightly. Her relief soon faded as she saw before her a battle between a ninja and a horrible shadow-like demon. Both paid no attention to the wandering intruder, they just continuously fought viciously against on another. The ninja stunned Sophitia as she threw a powerful attack; a blood red orb with small lightning sparks formed into her fist, she shrieked with rage as she harshly slammed her fist against the ground. The shadowy demon pounced into the air, evading the ninjas attack. When it landed it quickly grabbed the dagger that was on the ninja's back, its attempt to hold within its claw-like hands obviously failed as it shrieked loudly in pain as it hastily and aimlessly threw the weapon into a thick tree that stood at the other end of the platform.

"Rekki-Maru!!" The ninja cried as she saw in horror that her only weapon was way out of reach, leaving her vulnerable to any attack that this creature willed.

"Hold on!" Sophitia shouted at the ninja to let her know that the ninja had an ally. The ninja sharply turned to the voice calling to her, wondering who would have the gut of coming into a dark area like this. As the ninja looked away, the demon snatched the opportunity to jump into the air and when she turned back around to find her prey up in the air, Sophitia could only watch as it dove down the ninja's throat. Sophitia only watched in horror as the ninja dropped to the ground, shaking violently. The woman suddenly stopped, eyes open, dazed as they stared blankly into the dark sky, Sophitia slowly walked forward, expecting her to be in a coma of some sort.

She stopped as the ninja slowly and lazily rolled onto her stomach and lifted herself from the ground, her head hung down, not one part of her face could be clearly seen, her arms hung at her sides and her legs bent slightly as if she couldn't carry her own weight. She walked slightly, although she walked as though she was drunk and couldn't balance herself.

Sophitia slowly walked to the woman, careful not to scare her.

"Are... are you okay?" She gently placed her hand on the strangely behaving woman's shoulder. As soon as she touched the woman, she noticed that her skin was cold and clammy. The ninja brought a hand up to Sophitia's in response, at first it felt like a good sign, but the ninja's grip around her wrist slowly became tighter and tighter to the point where it felt like her wrist was about to break. The ninja sharply brought up her head staring straight into Sophitia's eyes, watching as her face cringed from the pain.

To Sophitia's horror, the ninja's eyes were wide and completely pitch black. She could hear the ninja breathing; it was deep, slow and quite shallow. Her hand left Sophitia's wrist sharply and closed around her throat. The ninja's face didn't change, it just looked blankly at her as she slowly lifted Sophitia from the ground.

Sophitia knew that the demon was doing all of this and must awaken the possessed woman choking her. She could feel the life being wringed from her with every passing second, she had to think of something, and fast!

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Well? I love cliffhangers, please review, no flames please. Thanks


	2. A Torch in the Face of Darkness

Here's the second, hope you enjoy. Once again, i do not own soul calibur characters.

This one has a little less action in it, in my opinion anyway, but enjoy anyway. I decided to take this bit by bit.

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Chapter 2: A Torch in the Face of Darkness

The ninja's grip grew tighter around Sophitia's neck. She tried kicking the ninja in her legs and midriff but each blow seemed futile and powerless, with each blow the ninja didn't wince or even move. It was as if the ninja was a ghost and had no reaction to each blow like it passed right through her. Sophitia figured it was most likely because the demon used its possessed victim as a shield was the reason why it didn't wince.

The ninja's eyes grew darker as she stared at her struggling prey, she lifted her higher into the air. Sophitia grunted from the pain as she grabbed the ninja's wrist to try and lift herself into the air.

'Argh! I can't use my sword either; I don't want to hurt the victim. Wait, maybe I don't need _that_ sword.'

Sophitia remembered that she still had her brown leather bag at her side. Holding it between her legs as she reached in and grabbed its contents, she whipped out the Sword of Light. The weight of the sword being more than she could bear, she gently laid the blade on the arm of the ninja, pointing it right between her eyes. She didn't have to keep it there for long however.

The ninja's eyes grew wider as she suddenly dropped Sophitia and quickly backed away a few feet. Strangely, as the demon within her backed away, it stumbled slightly and fell to the ground but quickly picked itself back up. The ninja raised her arms slightly as if to defend itself although it stared in a frightened manner, like a torch shining at bats or a vampire looking at a flask of holy water.

Sophitia, after regaining her breath and feeling the blood flow back into her head again, jumped forward and tackled the ninja so that the demon wouldn't try to run away. The demon only stared as it was tackled to the ground and looked up at the warrior of the gods.

Sophitia however had no idea what to do now; she just brought the tip of the sword to the ninja's throat.

"LET HER GO!!" Sophitia could only threaten it as she tried to think of a possible method of how to go about this.

"P-place... the hilt... on my forehead." The ninja whispered out, much to Sophitia's surprise, even if her voice was strained as if she was trying to speak as someone was choking her. She did as she was told; she made the blade lie parallel to the ninja's body. Holding the ninja's legs and arms so that the demon within her wouldn't squirm or try to escape, she watched in amazement as the dim runes running down the blade began to glow. The glow became brighter and brighter by the second, then one part of the glowing blade faded into a dim black and swirls of red.

'What's happening?' Sophitia had never seen this happen before, once and a while the runes on Sophitia's own blade, the Omega Sword, would glow if she willed it to by praying to her gods as she fought, but it would never change colors in a certain area.

As the ninja grunted with pain as she slowly lifted her chest up off of the ground as a dark mist seeped through the runes just above the ninja's raised chest. Sophitia watched the mist rise into the air and the demon's form slowly melded. It stared at Sophitia with hate, it looked like it was about to pounce straight at her and dive down her throat in return for ruining its plans.

Lucky for Sophitia, the ninja was faster; she grabbed the hilt of the sword from her forehead and stabbed the middle of the black mist. The demon shrieked much like it did when it attempted to use the ninja's dagger. The mist twisted around itself in pain as it slowly disappeared, leaving only the echo of the demon's cry to break the silence of the night.

The ninja exhaled, dropping the sword to her side as the rest of her body fell with it in exhaustion. Sophitia was relieved to see that the ninja's eyes were back to their brown color.

"The deed is done." The ninja spoke softly. She gently laid her hand on her forehead and shut her eyes tightly. "Urgh, headache... damn demon." The ninja groaned as she rubbed her forehead from side to side. Her hands quickly moved to her shin, gripping it as she cringed. Sophitia remembered that that was one of the places that she kicked her. "Argh! Did you have to kick so hard!?" She yelled, not looking up.

"Uh, yeah, sorry about that." Sophitia rubbed her nape apologetically as she lowered her head. 'What else was I supposed to do?' Sophitia looked back up to find the ninja leaning back on the heels of her palms, frowning at her with eyes that looked like they were surveying her. "Something wrong?" She asked lifting one eyebrow. 'Why's she looking at me like that?'

"I heard a rumor that there was a person traveling around Japan who held the Sword of Light. I figured it was true, I just never realized that it would be a foreign woman." The ninja spoke plainly. She cocked her head to one side. "Who are you?"

"Sophitia Alexandra. And You?" Sophitia expected her name to be a complex tongue-breaker like the many other Japanese names that she heard of while she was in Japan.

The ninja was silent for a moment, as if she didn't trust this strange foreign savior. "Well, since you freed me from that damn demon's possession..." The ninja look down. "I guess you deserve to know my name." The ninja blinked and looked back up at the foreigner. "It's Taki."

'Oh, well, that doesn't sound so hard to pronounce.' Sophitia thought, a bit relieved.

"Guess this sword lives up to its name." Taki eyed the sword she gripped in her hand. "Where'd you get it?" Not turning her head, she looked up at Sophitia.

"My Gods gave it to me." Sophitia replied with slight pride. The ninja raised and eyebrow.

"So... Your Gods just... _handed_ you a sword that wards off demons? Hmm." The ninja sounded like she didn't believe what the younger-looking woman told her. Her gaze drifted down to the blade again.

"Well, they didn't... _hand_ it to me personally, of course. They have their own ways of sending me oracles and objects that I need for a mission." Sophitia explained on her defense, but it didn't help any.

"Uh huh, I see." Taki's opinions obviously didn't change by her tone in her response, but the ninja said nothing nonetheless.

"It's an offering to the keeper of this shrine; do you know where he or she might be?" Sophitia raised her eyebrows and leaned forward as she asked.

"You're looking at her." Taki spoke plainly.

"You? You're the keeper?" Sophitia stared at her in surprise. Taki stared back with a look saying 'do you find something strange about that?'. "How do you survive living in a place that seems to be plagued by evil spirits and demons? You were just possessed by one!"

Taki's eyes widened the quickly narrowed. "Hey, I was doing just fine before you showed up! You destroyed my concentration when you called out to me, thus giving the demon an opening!" Taki looked down. "I earned my rank as a demon hunter; I just hope no one was watching when that demon possessed me. My reputation would be ruined if anyone found out." Taki's voice turned soft as she continued to gaze down, most likely thinking of the possibility of anyone finding out.

Sophitia looked down at the ninja who seemed to be lost in thought with soft eyes. 'I understand what she's feeling; it feels like you let people down.' Sophitia thought. "I didn't mean to judge your skill in combat; I didn't know you were a trained demon hunter. I doubt any one saw you being possessed because I doubt that anybody would set foot in those forests." Sophitia looked behind her and into the dark woods.

"You did." Taki noted, not looking up. Sophitia smiled softly.

"Yeah, but that was because I had a reason and I didn't have a choice." Sophitia walked over to the dazed-looking ninja and held out a hand. The ninja's eyes snapped to her hand but just looked at it for a few seconds with a blank expression. She wasn't sure if she should take it, but then she saw Sophitia's warm smile. She took it and pulled herself up with a little help from Sophitia's own strength.

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It for now. review if possible.

Silvermoonlight GJ, May i say i am honored to have you as my first reviewer, i've read your work. Brilliantly done!


	3. Meeting of Black and White

Here's the third. Again, do not own Soul Calibur characters, wish i did.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 3: Meeting of Black and White (Taki's thoughts)

'Why is this foreign woman helping me?' Taki could only think this as she could better see the emerald gaze of Sophitia's eyes as they gleamed in the moonlight. Sophitia's eyes drifted over to the side and stopped as her eye caught something.

"Erm, I think you might want that." Taki followed her pointing finger and noticed that her Rekki-Maru was still lodged into the tree. She gasped as she realized that she completely forgot about it. As she ran over to get it, a black bird flew ahead of her and landed right on the hilt of Taki's Rekki-Maru. The bird just turned and looked at her in an innocent fashion while Taki looked at it with annoyance.

"Shadow, where have you been!?" Taki scolded. "You've been gone for three week and _now_ you decide to show up?" The bird was silent as it just cocked its head to one side in reply.

"Um, I beg you pardon?" Taki could hear Sophitia behind her. She turned to see Sophitia with a face of curiosity. Taki merely chuckled.

"Don't worry, it's not another demon, it's just my raven, Shadow. I use him to send messages and scope the nearby lands for evil energy." Taki explains as she turns back to the bird with her hands on her hips.

"I see." Sophitia replied plainly. Taki walked over so that she was more than an arms reach, staring straight at her raven as if waiting for it to get the hint.

"Do you mind?" Taki gestures for the bird to get off, which it does a little reluctantly, flying onto a nearby limb of the tree. 'Why do you always have to be such a pest?' She shook her head at the bird as she reached for her Rekki-Maru.

"Wait!" Taki jumped slightly as Sophitia yelled and ran towards her.

"Problem?" Taki questions with a slightly annoyed eye.

"Didn't you see what happened to that demon when it touched it? What if the same happens to you?" Sophitia asks with worry in her voice.

'What a strange person this foreigner is. She's a little naïve, but at least she's careful.' Taki mentally noted to herself. "If I had it in its sheath, which as you can see is on my back..." Taki pointed at the sheath with her thumb. "And nearly using it against the demon before you showed up, then it obviously isn't dangerous... well, at least not to me." Taki stated as she reached up again and wrapped her hand around the hilt.

Indeed, nothing happened. Taki turned back to Sophitia with a smirk saying 'I told you so'. Sophitia just narrowed her eyes and folded her arms as she switched the weight on her legs in response to the smart-alac look Taki wore. Taki turned back to her Rekki-maru with a smirk in response to Sophitia's look. After a few light tugs, she wedged the blade out of the tree and sheathed it behind her back.

"So... will you take this accept this offering?" Sophitia asks as she picks up the Sword that Taki left behind when she went to get Rekki-Maru. Taki placed her index finger and thumb on her chin in thought.

'Hmm, I could use the extra force of power against the demons; less work for me and I can travel and not worry about the shrine being corrupted again.' "Sure, could use the extra help." Taki walked over to Sophitia and takes the sword into her own hand.

She swiftly jumps to the shrine's large roof and thrusts the blade deep into the center of the roof. 'It'll be like a scarecrow in the middle of a harvest field.' Taki looked about the woods around her. 'I'd like to see one demon stupid enough to try and get near this blade or this temple now.' Taki smirked with pride at the though. She looked down to find Sophitia stare at her with surprise. "What?" Taki asks plainly with raised eyebrows.

"How in the world did you get to the top of that roof in a single bound?" Sophitia had a tone of stunned surprise. Taki just rolled her eyes slightly as she looked to the side as if it was the most basic question she'd ever heard.

"I've had practice." Taki replied plainly as she looks back to the young blonde. The air stayed silent for a few minutes not counting the gentle rustle of the trees. 'What now?' Taki questions herself during the utter silence, until she suddenly decided to break it. "So... now that your quest is completed... what are you... or what does your _god_ want you to do now, eh?"

Sophitia's eyes narrowed at her question. 'Oh, I might have hit a nerve on that one.' Taki became a bit concerned and intrigued, wondering what this well-mannered girl will do.

"Don't speak of my gods like they're a joke to you! You know nothing about me! You might not believe in other people's gods, but I certainly believe in mine! If you have a problem with it, then I suggest you get used to it!" Sophitia's sudden outburst surprised Taki. 'She's quite a spitfire when you hit a nerve.'

Sophitia turned around on her heel and walked onto the center of the platform, turned back to Taki with still narrowed eyes. "You want to see what my gods can do!?" Without waiting for Taki's answer, she brought out her own sword and shield, jumped back a very short distance and whipped her sword up into the air so that it was pointing to the sky. "BY THE POWER OF THE GODS!!" Just as Sophitia finished, a small lightning bolt broke the silence of the forest by searing through the sky.

Taki was startled a bit but not shaken enough that would make her grovel for mercy to her alien gods. The only thing that could be heard after that was the lightning's echo and Shadow fluttering its wings a bit in the far tree due to the sudden shock. "Impressive." Taki commented plainly. "But that still doesn't answer my question of what you are going to do next."

Sophitia pulled back slightly, lowered her head a bit as she continued to hold the ninja's gaze. She remained silent. Taki could only guess what her thoughts were, but said nothing about the previous argument. "You have nowhere to go... do you? You haven't been given your next task?"

Sophitia lowered her gaze. "...No."

Taki let out a sigh. 'I suppose she can stay with me... These forests are too dangerous for a foreigner as young as her, even if she does have that sword of hers. I'm surprised she made it this far into the forest, and at this time of night.' Taki rubbed her nape in a nervous fashion as she thought. 'This is going to be a new experience, I'm used to being alone... but what can I do with a vulnerable beginner weapon-wielding woman? I might as well travel with her back to the Japanese ports so that she won't get hurt. I owe her that much for getting that demon out of me.'

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Well, I'll see what i can do on the next chapters, i'm running out of ideas, but some will turn up eventually.


	4. Company for the Night

There's a lot of talk in this one, but it was fun for me to write. Don't own Soul Calibur characters.

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Chapter 4: Company for the Night (Taki's Thoughts)

"What's the matter? Mind blocks an after-effect of a demon's possession, hmm?" Sophitia asked mockingly with a raised eyebrow. Taki's thoughts broke at Sophitia's interruption, and narrowed her eyes at Sophitia's smart-aleck question.

'Then again...' Taki thought mischievously then shook her head at the thought of not helping the younger woman. 'Remember, you owe it to her. She's just still mad at you for making fun of her gods.' Taki assured herself. "We'll be staying in the shrine for the rest of the night and tomorrow I'll escort you back to the Japanese docks." Taki slowly looked back at the blonde as she leaped swiftly and landed as gracefully as a cat back onto the platform, being only a few feet away from Sophitia.

Sophitia pulled back at this sudden gesture. She slowly gave Taki a look saying 'you're kidding, right?' "I can handle myself you know. I made it in, I'm sure I can make it out."

Taki deeply breathed in and out once as she brought her hand to the side of her forehead. "As much as I'd like to believe that, I don't. You heard how loud that demon's death cry was, I'm sure the other demons within the woods heard that as well. So if you indeed choose to go by yourself in the now demon-ridden forest, then be my guest although I'll warn you that you won't last long." Taki turns and heads for the sliding double doors of the shrine. "Your choice is your fate. You can either follow me... or stay behind."

Sophitia took a small moment to think, she watched as Taki turned back to Sophitia with her hand on the door, getting ready to open it, but waiting for Sophitia's answer. Sophitia looked behind her to the deep woods. They were dark and even more ominous than when she first roamed through them. She looked back to Taki, who held a patient expression as she kept her hand on the door.

"Well? And by the way, the only reason that you were able to get through that forest was because you had the Sword of Light. As you can see, you don't have it anymore." Sophitia looked up to the Sword of Light driven into the roof of the temple as it reflected the moonlight into her eyes. She looked back down again, sighed deeply, and walked reluctantly over to the ninja.

"Fine, I'll let you help me to get back to the harbors. They are quite a ways from here you know that right? You only need to help me get to the next town." Sophitia noted as she came to a stop right next to the ninja.

"I wouldn't even chance that either. Even if it might seem like nothing might happen where we are, I'll come with you nonetheless, just to be safe. My job is to protect those who are innocent and vulnerable to the demon's eyes and I intend to live up to those expectations." Taki spoke very sternly, it actually surprised Sophitia on how much Taki seemed to care about other people's well-being. Taki looked down as she slid on of the doors as open a necessary. She hid her small blush as she pulled them open with more strength then she thought she might need. 'I've never spoken to somebody like I just did to Sophitia. It feels like an anxiety now.'

Finally entering the two-story shrine, Sophitia noticed the second level, which went along the long wooden walls and is fenced in with a dark blue colored fence. The colors of the room were dark blue and gold, dark blue being the dominant color and gold being the outline of everything else that needed to be. A Buddha the height of the roof of the second level and has six arms, each bent and raised in different ways, was the most noticeable object in the temple.

"Well... Let's sleep in the upper level. I don't sleep all that much in here, so this will be my first time in a while." Taki strode over to a staircase leading to the second level, with the young foreigner at her heels. She made futons for each of them, at different sides of the room.

It was hard for her to fall asleep, the fact that there was another person at the other side of the room made her feel uneasy. Her gaze wandered over to the blonde, who was laying on her side, her back facing her, she couldn't tell whether the young girl was actually sleeping or not.

'I keep sensing that that girl is going to get up and take off at any moment. She still looked a little heated after she showed me what her gods could do. I can't believe I just said 'impressive' after she shot a lightning bolt near my head. At least I changed the subject right after. She looked like she was going to decapitate me.' Taki gazed back at the ceiling. 'But I still think that that bolt was just a coincidence. I better not say that though, otherwise she definitely _will_ decapitate me.'

"Thank you." The young blonde suddenly spoke from across the room. Taki sharply turned her head to find Sophitia on here other side looking back at her.

The ninja's eyes widened. 'She isn't a mind reader is she?' Taki thought nervously, then mentally shook her head, thinking that was preposterous. "Erm, for what?" Taki asked nervously, that idea still being in the back of her mind.

Sophitia's eyes softened as she stared back. "What do you think? For escorting me back and letting me stay here." She replied in a very sweet and calm tone. Taki let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh... sure... no problem. I figured I owe you that much, for the exorcism you gave me."

"Well I wouldn't have known what to do if it weren't for you, telling me what to do and all."

"I'm lucky I was able to work the words past my lips, I didn't know how much time I had before the beast would try and take over the rest of my body again. It's good that you held the blade so close." Taki took the eyes off of the blonde; that was the first time she ever came close to complimenting somebody else's knowledge, it felt like another anxiety when she finished.

"I was afraid that the sword was going to slip right through my hands, it was so heavy. I'm surprised that you handled it so swiftly; you only carry one dagger."

"As I said, I've had practice. I normally carry two daggers, but since I was at the shrine and usually all the demons near it are easy to kill, I figured what's the point of having two." Taki looked up to the ceiling. Sophitia remained silent for a small while.

"Do you like your job? Do you like killing demons?" Sophitia asked hesitantly although Taki could hear the curiousness in her voice.

"Of course I do; humans are a little more cunning and can become an annoyance because they like to dodge and block, demons hardly do that. They just attack whenever they feel like it without even thinking. I find it more of a thrill. The only thing that I don't like about killing demons is that some demons can bring themselves back from the dead, and that can be irritating." Taki brought her hands under her head. 'This is starting to feel like an awkward sleepover.' She chuckled to herself, even though she herself had never experienced something like that.

"If some demons come back from the dead, then how can you permanently kill them?" Sophitia asked; her words now dripped with curiosity.

"You have to have a special potion that you dip your blade in and strike the demon with. Think of it as a poison for demons. I've faced one of those before, ugly-looking things, they're very tall and very swift with their long arms. I got out with a few bruises and scratches after I killed the damn thing. There aren't very many of those, you mostly see them between mountains and abandoned, ruined houses."

"They sound difficult." Taki turned her head to see Sophitia staring at the ceiling. 'She must be the first one to actually listen to my past encounters with other demons.' Taki's stare softened the longer she looked at Sophitia.

"They're not bad; they can be a little feisty at times. It's the little ones I can't stand."

Sophitia sharply turned to meet Taki's soft gaze. "The little ones?" She stared with a look of disbelief. Taki looked back to the ceiling.

"Don't get me wrong, most of them you can crush like insects but some are hard to spot because they move so fast. They're harder to kill because they're so small and have so limited target areas, they can also be nasty little devils. That's why I think the demons that bring themselves back from the dead are easier to kill; they have such a wide range of target areas."

"I see." Sophitia let out a soft sigh. "Um, not to change the subject, but is there a lake or river someplace near here?"

"Uh, sure, something like that, I'll take you there tomorrow." Taki replied hesitantly. She didn't have time to question it as years of spending her nights lying awake in bed suddenly poured over her eyes.

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Fast ending i know, but i wasn't sure of how to properly end it. The next one should be interesting, since Sophitia asked for a lake, take a lucky guess why she wants that! Poor Taki doesn't have a clue since she isn't used to company.


	5. Awkward Situations

I think that this one is my favorite to write so far ;P Do not own Soul Calibur Characters.

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Chapter 5: Awkward Situations (Thoughts jump between the two)

Taki awoke before Sophitia did, being not exactly sure of whether to wake the blonde-haired girl or not. Whenever she woke up early, she didn't like to lie in bed because it would start to bore her, so she stood up and tried to decide what to do until the blonde woke up. 'Might as well grab my Mekki-Maru while I'm waiting.'

She left to one of the temple's hidden rooms and pulled her long since used medium-sized sword Mekki-Maru out of a slab of stone. It was normally kept there to weaken the demon's strength and abilities if they ever came near the temple. The Sword of Light wards them off, which makes it a little more useful.

Sheathing Mekki-Maru and placing it behind her back along with Rekki-Maru, she then after walked back to the main room, noticing that the foreigner with twisting around in her futon and grumbling to herself.

'Oh, I've never went so far out like that. That must've been the deepest I've ever slept.' Sophitia raised herself from the futon as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes. She looked over to Taki's futon to find it vacant. 'Huh? Where's Taki?'

"Who're you looking for?" Taki asked playfully. 'Where the hell did that come from?'

Sophitia whipped around to find Taki on the first level, who held a small smirk. Sophitia smiled back.

"Ready to go yet?" Taki asked as she walked closer to Sophitia.

"Whenever you are." Sophitia stood herself up and walked down the steps. "We're still going to that lake right?"

"Actually it's a hot spring, and yeah, we're still going." Taki nodded slightly. The two walked out of the old shrine and headed for the hot spring through the woods.

The two stayed silent for a small while until the silence became awkward, which came quickly. Sophitia just eyed the sunlight as it hit the ground in different spots, the leaves shadows waving about in the very soft breeze. It was amazing how tranquil the forest looked in the morning despite the fact that demons still hid themselves within it.

"Erm, what is a hot spring exactly?" Sophitia asked nervously. 'I'm sure to her that's a stupid question with an obvious answer.'

Taki looked at her; Sophitia could tell she was right for the most part by the expression Taki held.

'She's a foreigner, so I guess that's understandable to not know what a hot spring is.' Taki thought to herself before she answered. "Um, think of it as a public bath like your Romans had, only it's outdoors. It's natural mineral water. You'll see what I mean when we get there." Taki explained simply.

After half-an-hour of walking through the woods, Taki finally relieved Sophitia by saying that they made it to the hot spring.

"It's just like you said, an outdoor bath." Sophitia stared in amazement. "We have nothing like this in Greece."

"Yeah, I come here once and a while when I really feel like it, or when I just want to think. It's very relaxing when you-... oh Kami, what are you doing!" The ninja had noticed in the corner of her eye that this warrior of the gods right next to her had started stripping herself of her armor and clothes. She was about halfway through getting all of her clothes off when Taki asked her what she was doing. Sophitia looked at Taki's face of both stunned and nervous surprise and nearly burst into laughter.

"I haven't bathed myself properly in days, I've never been given the chance. I was a little nervous, but now that somebody's with me, if feel much safer." Sophitia stopped stripping herself as she spoke. 'Why did you think I asked if there was a body of water around here for? To polish my armor?' Sophitia thought to herself as she raised an eyebrow. "Want to join me?" Sophitia asked as if it was a respectable question.

Taki, however, pulled back with an expression of extreme surprise at Sophitia's question. "Erm-I-uh..." The ninja stuttered. "I've never... ever... bathed... with somebody else before." Taki admitted as she turned around so that her back faced Sophitia and that her blush wouldn't deepen the more that she watched her strip herself.

"Well, there's a first time for everything you know." Sophitia stated with a rather cute smile as if she was amused with this demon hunter's timid self. She dipped herself into the hot spring's clear water, letting out a slight groan at the feeling of the warm water soothing her spine and higher. "Are you sure you don't want to join me?" Sophitia spoke in a voice that would lure anyone in.

"I...I know I'd feel uncomfortable. So I'm sorry..." Taki remembered watching the contours of Sophitia's shadow as she had stripped herself and the image of the contours of Sophitia's slender and extremely attractive body. "_Sooo_ sorry..." She cursed herself for the large exhale, deep voice and more emphasis that her '_Sooo_' held. 'Ugh! I'm sure that she's going to use that against me now.' Taki sat herself down on the ground, still turned away from Sophitia.

Sophitia sighed and let her head fall forward slightly, taking her eyes off of Taki for a few brief second before resting them on her again. 'She is stubborn, isn't she?' Sophitia raised an eyebrow to herself. 'I won't make her come in if she really doesn't want to, but... somehow I get the feeling that she needs this interaction; she just looks so lonely over there by herself.' Sophitia's gaze softened as she stared at the likes-to-be-isolated woman in front of her. "Are you sure? You don't know what you're missing." Sophitia tried to lure Taki in again. To Taki, Sophitia was making progress, only very slowly.

"You're not going to stop nagging at me to come in, are you?" Taki asked as she looked over her shoulder slightly.

"What do you think?" Sophitia replied with a smirk. Taki began to like Sophitia's playful side.

"Oh alright!" Taki answered as if she was annoyed, when in fact she was nervous and excited at the same time. She reached for the openings of her body suit then stopped when she noticed that Sophitia was staring at her, waiting. Taki brought up her finger, pointing towards the ground and started making little circles with it. "Turn around."

Sophitia held an expression of confusion as she cocked her head to one side. "Why? I don't mind."

"Yes, but I do. I turned around for you, it's only fair." Taki leaned forward slightly as she spoke as if the explanation was obvious. Sophitia agreed, although a little reluctantly, with a nod and turned around, crossing her arms and laying them on the ground at the spring's edge and rested her chin on them. She looked about the woods as she heard shuffling sounds and small grunts from Taki's throat.

'Her body suit looks so tight, must be why she's grunting.' Sophitia thought to herself. It took a minute for Taki to get out of her body suit, Sophitia got the idea that she was finished because of the footsteps and something breaking into the water's calm state.

"Alright, you can turn back around now." Taki informed nervously. Sophitia turned and saw that Taki's hair was down and that her fair white skin really brought out her brown eyes.

"Oh, you look... very... pretty... when your hair is down." Sophitia stated, she didn't seem very embarrassed; she didn't look away at all, although her cheeks did fluster a bit. Taki blushed a bit as well.

'She must be the first person to complement me with such honesty in their voice.' Taki thought to herself, a small and unavoidable smile appeared on her face. "Thanks. You look even prettier when your hair isn't in a braid." Her blush turned into a darker shade of red, she never complemented anyone like that in her entire life.

Sophitia couldn't help but have a small smile appear on her face as she blushed. "I do that just so that if a fight should ever come my way, it'll keep my hair out of my face."

"Same with me." Taki nodded in understanding then slowly looked over to the side.

Silence took over the forest again besides the slow rustle of the leaves in the winds.

Taki actually decided to speak up this time. "So... have any siblings?" Her gaze slowly drifted back to Sophitia, knowing that that question was kind of an early one to ask.

"Yes, actually... one sister, Cassandra, and one brother, Lucius, both are younger than me."

"Are they both as mild-mannered as you?" Taki asked with a smirk, but slowly became nervous. 'I hope I didn't go too far by calling her 'mild-mannered'.' Taki didn't have to worry about that however. Sophitia just smirked in return.

"Lucius is, a little. Cassandra definitely isn't." Sophitia looked over to the side.

"How so?" Taki asked with lowered eyebrows of curiosity.

"Well..." She looked up with narrowed eyes as she tried to think of a good example. "She doesn't really believe in the gods as most of the other Grecians do. She's quite the troublemaker. Once she made a lot of noise in front of the temple of Harpocrates, who was our god of silence, and was scolded by one of the priests. When the priest left she turned back at him and yelled 'why don't you take a vow not to speak like you supposed to!? Drop it like the bad habit that it is!!!' and she started going on and on and... well, let me just say it didn't turn out pretty." She let out a sigh as she ran a hand down her face as if the memory still gave her the same feeling she got back then when the event happened. Taki couldn't help laughing at her story as well as Sophitia's face.

"Oh, I see." Taki's laughter settled down to a mere giggle.

"What about you? Have any siblings of your own?" Sophitia asked. Taki's giggling stopped abruptly and she looked down.

"Um, I have people that I consider as my brothers and sisters, although I don't see them that much." Taki stated in a low voice.

"They're demon hunters as well?"

"Yep. They enjoy it, all except the younger ones in the clan. They find it a waste of time and too bloody for their taste at least the girls do, the boys hardly pay attention at all."

"So, basically you spend all of your time alone huh? It must be very lonely for you." Sophitia spoke softly.

"....Sometimes." Taki spoke in just a low tone that it was almost a whisper. Sophitia cocked her head to one side and her expression looked like one of pity. She slowly walked over and sat herself next to the ninja, who watched her with nervous anticipation while trying to look away from Sophitia's top half of her body that came into view when she stood up.

"You don't have to let it continue like that you know... You have somebody else with you this time." Sophitia wrapped her arm around the ninja's and laid her hand on Taki's. Taki, who was unsure at first but wanted to reply to this gesture, slowly turned her hand so that she could grasp the foreigner's hand in her own, Sophitia entwined her fingers with the ninja's in response. Taki, within her bliss of comfort, let her head drop onto the Greek's shoulder and rested it there while Sophitia laid her head on the demon huntress'. Both felt more warmth than the hot spring itself could possibly give.

Neither of them wanted to move, so they just stayed there until they felt it was time to break from this unforgettable moment.

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How'dja like it? Check out my othe fanfic "Meeting of the Dirty Minded". It's dirtier that this one and more humorous.


	6. The Sudden Assault

I'm getting new ideas in, but it's hard to lead up to the idea, but i'll try. Do not own Soul Calibur characters. This chapter may seem a little slow, it's the longest i've written so far.

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Chapter 6: The Sudden Assault

Taki and Sophitia walkedupon the pebble-stone pathstealing glances at one another. Their little moment had after-effects for the both of them although they tried to pretend that it didn't happen, even though they both knew well that it did.

'She's nervous... it's still on her mind... I can sense it. She seemed a little overwhelmed when we broke apart.' "Are... you alright Taki?" Sophitia asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Taki responded a little too quickly for Sophitia's comfort, plus she didn't look up when she answered, she just kept her eyes on the path below her feet.

'I'm used to what we did in the hot spring. Cassandra and I would end up like that every once and a while in the lake near our house... well actually I hugged her into my arms while she tried to get away in embarrassment. But I can guess why she's overwhelmed, I must be the first ally she's ever traveled with, spending all her nights alone, I'm sure nobody's ever shone her real love before, and I'm betting I was the closest.' "Taki-"

A sudden sound disrupted Sophitia's train of speech. Both Taki and Sophitia sharply turn to look behind them. They focused their eyes for any sign of movement for a few seconds, and then slowly turn back to each other.

"What was th-oof!" Taki shoved Sophitia back, making her fall to the ground and finding a katana blade swing through the air, where she would have been if Taki hadn't shoved her. She watched as Taki unsheathed her Rekki-Maru and Mekki-Maru against another Japanese man. He had a small beard and brown eyes with long, jet-black hair, much like Taki's.

The man, who wore a robe that looked like a yukata and had shoulder, arm, abs, and shin guards, aimed his long blade at Taki.

"You are Taki I'm sure. You look like the person that the people around here described you as." The man's voice was husky and deep.

"Yeah, who might you be, if I may ask?" Taki sounded as if she wasn't asking; it sounded more like she was demanding it.

"I'll tell you when you kneel to me in pieces!" The man swung his blade right towards Taki's stomach. Taki, however, had her reflexes well toned, as Sophitia could see as she watched her somersault underneath the blade. When she reached the man's body, she thrusts herself upwards, punching him into the air. After that she kicked him while he was still in the air, making him fall a few feet away. The next thing surprised Sophitia; Taki somehow propelled herself forward, diving towards him with yell as she pointed the hilts of her two daggers at his chest. She landed right on him, right on the target that was his ribs. Sophitia could hear a horrible cracking sound and a loud grunt coming from Taki's victim.

Taki grabbed him by his hair, lifted him from the ground as she kicked his blade out of his hand, and brought her Rekki-Maru up to his neck.

"Now, let's try this again shall we? Who are you?" Taki asked forcefully. The warrior grunted in annoyance.

"Mit-Mitsurugi..." He replied through gritted teeth as Taki looked at him for a small moment.

"Oh yes, Mitsurugi, I've heard of you as well, you're supposed to be a cocky samurai trying to make himself a legend." Taki held a small smile as she realized the magnitude of her victory. "You know... there's a lot of things I can do with you; kill you, torture you for fun, sell you and gain a hefty reward, but I'm not sure which." Taki stated teasingly.

"Why don't we just let him travel with us?" Sophitia spoke up.

"Huh?" Taki couldn't believe Sophitia's suggestion.

"You are a samurai, so you must know most of these lands by heart, right?"

"Most of them, yes." Mitsurugi had a little trouble speaking due to the pain of Taki pulling his hair.

"What?! Are you insane? He'll try and pull something while we're not looking, like he just did not more than three minutes ago!" Taki exclaimed as she pulled harder on Mitsurugi's hair, making him grunt more.

"Not if we strip him of his sword and any other weapon he might have, and we'll keep his wrists bound behind his back." Taki just looked at her, she still disagreed with the idea. "Please?" Sophitia asked in a sweet tone that brought Taki's guard down a bit. Mitsurugi decided, for the life of him, to stay quiet as he watched the debate between the two. He watched as Taki's eyes slowly narrowed as she looked at Sophitia in silence.

Sophitia swore she heard Taki say "Damn those eyes..." under her breath. Taki sighed slowly then looked down at Mitsurugi. "Fine, but I'm keeping an eye on you." She leaned towards Mitsurugi and whispered. "And I know moves and blows that can paralyze you and worse, so I suggest that you not try anything or else you'll face powerful blows that aren't even worthy of the word 'wrath'." Mitsurugi stared at her without a word, although Sophitia could tell even from her distance from him that he had a hint of fear in his eyes.

"Don't scare him too much Taki, otherwise he'll try to run away during the night."

"Not if we tie him tightly to a tree." Sophitia stayed quiet, Taki had a point. "Get the ropes from his armor would you?" Taki gestured slightly to his armor with her head. Sophitia obeyed as she walked over and took a look at the ropes tied around his muscles.

Sophitia pulled back and paused at the complex knot. 'How do you untie these? I never thought untying a foreign twine would look so difficult.' Sophitia looked for some sort of hint as to how to go about her task.

"Uh, pull on one of the longer strands." Taki apparently noticed Sophitia's look of question and answered it as if it was a basic question, although she couldn't help but smirk. Sophitia raised an eyebrow at the twine.

'It couldn't be that easy...' She did as she was told and to her surprise the strands just slipped apart. "Humph." Sophitia replied quickly in her embarrassment as she unraveled the others. 'Oh good.' Sophitia thought sarcastically to herself. 'I feel like a naïve idiot now.'

"Thanks." Taki broke her train of thought as Sophitia handed her the thin ropes. "Hold him still." Sophitia took hold of Mitsurugi, he didn't put up much of a fight to this. Taki took both his hands behind him and in a matter of seconds Taki tied Mitsurugi's wrists together using the same knot that Sophitia had to untwine.

"Are you sure that won't get loose?" Sophitia asked suspiciously.

"Oh yes, Japanese knots are stronger then they seem." Taki replied with a bit of pride in her voice as she smiled sweetly to her. Mitsurugi felt like he wasn't even here.

Traveling with a man didn't seem very awkward, once and a while he would throw wise-cracks at the both of them, but he was immediately silenced by Taki's death-glare that she'd sent him. The only part that seemed awkward was the fact that at the end of the day Sophitia would feel like a pair of eyes on her, she just didn't know who's. Taki and Sophitia didn't have too worry about Mitsurugi, Taki took care of him by tying him firmly, or rather tightly, to a tree near their camp.

'Ever since Mitsurugi joined us, I've felt uneasy, I just don't specifically know why.' Taki noticed Sophitia's troubled look as she seemed to stare at the blazing fire. Taki had made one of her own dishes just because she felt like showing what Japanese food was like to the foreigner who had trouble undoing a Japanese twine. Taki, not knowing how to work with this, just asked if she was okay.

"Yeah... I'm okay." Sophitia asked a little slower then Taki would have liked, but said nothing.

Sophitia also had a little trouble working with chopsticks as well; she growled and sneered slightly due to annoyance as a piece of meat kept flipping out of her chopsticks. Taki tried her hardest not to giggle at this little spectacle that she watched through the tops of the twitching flames, she even tried to bite her lip. Her pity for this foreigner's bad luck showing up by the end of the day grew with each second. Sophitia's embarrassment for not knowing how to undo a twine that was simple to Japanese standards failed to go unnoticed by Taki. When she remembered that scene she ultimately broke and decided to help the Greek this time.

She walked to Sophitia and sat herself beside her. Sophitia only noticed her movement when Taki was halfway to her. This was the first time that the ninja actually came to _her_, which was why Sophitia just stared at her with wonder as she approached.

"Here, let me." Taki smiled so charmingly in during her sentence that Sophitia almost completely forgot where she was. She didn't move at all as she watched Taki pick up a smaller piece of meat from her own dish with her own chopsticks and held it up to Sophitia's mouth.

'This is new; I never thought that Taki would make such a kind gesture to a person from another country let alone someone she had only known for a few days.' Sophitia was stunned. She blushed as she hesitantly opened her mouth and gently took Taki's hand that held the chopsticks to help Taki better guide the meat into her mouth. She never left Taki's soft almond gaze as she did.

When she felt the meat on her tongue she gently bit down on the wooden sticks and slowly slid the sticks out of her mouth. Taki's mouth nearly dropped open at Sophitia's sensual gesture, she even noticed Sophitia's eyes becoming half closed which made her look even more... the only thing she could do was bite her lip to try and control her rapidly beating heart. Neither of them averted their gaze, Taki noticed the woman's beautiful, soft-looking blonde hair shine from the fire's light, and her aventurine eyes gleaming brightly between the fire and the moonlight. She found that her heart skipped a beat at the sight.

To even her own surprise she found herself leaning forward. She could hear Sophitia's breath becoming faster and sharper with surprise and... anticipation. Sophitia didn't move, she just waited. She closed her eyes when the vicinity of their lips were about an inch apart.

Taki could feel Sophitia's warm breath caressing her lips, which made them tingle with longing. Taki rolled her eyes to the back of her head as she felt Sophitia's breath caress her lips and cheeks again, then closed them as she leaned in more.

Taki suddenly stopped as she heard a shuffling sound in her ear. She looked over to the side to find Mitsurugi staring wide-eyed at the two's little affectionate scene. When he noticed that she had a death-glare that was far worse than any of her previous ones, Mitsurugi immediately looked away, although Taki could see him look at her through the corners of his eyes.

"Taki..." She heard a soft whisper in her ear. She turned to find Sophitia with eyes full of disappointment. Taki closed her eyes as she sighed and shook her head to say 'not now'. Sophitia understood, although she still felt like punching a tree and ripping the ground beneath her apart. She watched as Taki pulled back slowly and sat back on the ground.

'I don't care what Mitsurugi might think if he saw us, but since Taki is new to all of this, I might as well let it go.' Sophitia sighed as she laid herself down to go to sleep, thinking it would be better to do so then sitting in an awkward position where Taki and herself would just end up glancing at each other.

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I forgot to mention that this one is a really turn-downer. But i'm trying to have a better scene for them to get a chance.


	7. Uncoverings

This one has a lot of talk in it, but it leads the story to the next area that the characters will be heading. Do not own Soul Calibur characters. Hope you like it.

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Chapter 7: Uncoverings

Taki stood in a shallow river, arms crossed, and her head bent down as she watched the water encircle and pass her feet.

"Last night was awkward, everything I felt came up so fast it even was a little overwhelming for me. The more overwhelmed I became, the more lust I felt for her lips. Lust is something I've never felt before last night. I don't really like it; it has too much control over me... Although I do like the feeling itself, the way it makes my heart beat harder and faster within its cage." She smiled as she placed her fist over her heart and closed her eyes.

"Taki?" Taki nearly jumped as somebody behind her spoke. She turned to find Sophitia behind her, biting her lip.

'I'm sure she's trying to keep herself from laughing. I've never jumped before, at least with her around.' Taki thought with a rather depressed sigh as she found that she was right, Sophitia let out a giggle she couldn't help.

"I was wondering where you were... and don't worry about Mitsurugi, he's still tied tightly to the tree, plus he's still asleep, even though I have no idea how he could fall asleep in the position I saw him in. You didn't do anything to him after I fell asleep, did you?" She had a small smile on her face as she asked, as if the thought amused her.

"I was definitely tempted, but I controlled myself, which wasn't easy, plus I didn't want to wake you." Taki kicked a pebble within the river to avert her attention.

"Um-hm." Sophitia sounded like she didn't believe what the ninja was telling her. Taki looked up to find a playful smirk on her face. "I think I know what you're going to tell me..." Sophitia looked down at her feet.

"Huh?" Taki hadn't thought of saying anything to her yet. Sophitia looked up with soft eyes, the softest Taki had ever seen. Sophitia breathed deeply.

"You're going to ask me to forget it ever happened, what we almost did, aren't you?" Taki pulled back as she stared back at the blonde woman who kept her soft eyes in tact.

'I've never thought such a thing! Although knowing me, that would be my conclusion usual, to ask her to act as if it never happened. She's acting strangely though; she looks like she's accepted the idea.' The green gaze never tore away from hers. "Well, I don't know, the idea never came to me."

"Hm." Sophitia said quickly and plainly before she looked to the river's waters and placed her hands behind her back. "Well, until you do ultimately decide to tell me that, I will act like it had never happened... for you." Sophitia walked closer to Taki within the river and looked back up at her. "So, to start this, I should let you know that I found a note in Mitsurugi's kimono."

'Sudden change of subject? Alright, I think I can work with this. Although I think she's trying to make me feel guilty in a way, and if she is... then it's...sort of...'

"-It said something about a rumor of a clan of restless demons that are disturbing some fields and forests near here." Sophitia explained plainly as she interrupted Taki's train of thought.

"Okay, I can stop by I suppose, er-what am I saying? I have to. Did it say what kind of demons they are?" Taki mentally hit herself for saying 'I suppose'; to Taki, questioning whether to hunt demons when they terrorize any kind of territory is never an option. Sophitia looked up in thought.

"Um, I think they were called Bastites." Taki's face changed to one of slight worry.

"Bastites?" Taki asked, making sure that she was assured.

"Yes, I think so. Why? What are they?" Sophitia cocked her head to one side slightly as she asked.

"I'm surprised they're all the way over here. I've heard that these things are dangerous, that if you receive one bite from them, you'll turn into a creature that they are. You'll turn a cat-like beast." Taki informed with a tone of concern.

"Oh please, a cat-like beast? That sounds like a myth to me, and I'm Greek remember, so I've heard dozens of myths which aren't true. True, I like to think about them, but I certainly don't believe in them." Sophitia stated as if Taki's description was a preposterous one.

"You don't believe in your myths yet you believe in your gods?" Taki asked skeptically yet with a smirk, knowing what Sophitia's reply might be. Her reply was mild; she shifted her weight to one leg and put one hand on her hip and lowered her eyebrows. Taki raised her hands in defense. "Sorry, just thought I should remind you." Taki held a small smile while Sophitia's position refused to change for a few seconds.

"Some myths I do believe in I admit, but most I don't. Wait, did you just say you 'heard'? You mean you've never faced these things?" Sophitia suddenly changed the subject again. Taki paused and looked down.

"Yeah, I've only read about them. But anyway it would be smart for you to be at the sidelines, I can't take the chance of you being hurt... or bitten. A clan of Bastites usually consists of six demons." Sophitia smiled at her and looked down for a brief moment.

"You don't have to worry about me. I stood up against a shadow demon and a possessed version of you! I think I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, but that was against one demon, I'm talking about six!" Taki took one step towards her and pointed a finger at Sophitia's breast bone. "Promise me that you won't get involved." Sophitia just stood there with a raised eyebrow. "Promise me!" Taki repeated in a rather demanding tone.

"Alright, alright. I promise." Sophitia laughed slightly. She stared at Taki for a few seconds before Taki became nervous.

"What?"

"Can I ask you something?"

Taki sort of did and sort of didn't want to know what her question was. "Um... sure. What is it?"

Sophitia looked down. "Erm... what made you almost...?" She couldn't finish the rest of her sentence; she just brought the side of her knuckle to her bottom lip and looking at Taki with timid eyes.

"What?" Taki couldn't tell whether she was still taking about demons or if she was changing the subject again.

"...Kiss me?" Taki pulled back, deep down she figured that was what the question was going to be based on. Sophitia tried to make more sense out of the question. "What was the most dominating thought?" That, to Taki, sounded even worse.

'I guess she deserves that much.' Taki still hesitated as she began to blush slightly. "Uh, well... I was thinking about... what you told me in the hot spring, about me not having to be alone anymore, or at least while you're here." Sophitia smiled as she cocked her head to one side. She slowly walked towards Taki. "What're you doing?" She asked in slight nervousness. Sophitia said nothing as she pulled the ninja into a warm hug, wrapping her arms around Taki's neck. Taki, not knowing exactly what to do, could feel her fingers twitching as they were raised to the point where she could close them around Sophitia, but still not knowing where to lay them. 'C'mon! Don't freeze up now!' She mentally kicked herself.

She slowly wrapped her arms around the younger woman, letting her fingers gently touch the back of Sophitia's shoulder and her other hand wrapping around her waist. She could feel Sophitia relax even more beneath her fingers. Sophitia seemed to giggle slowly and deeply within her throat for some reason.

"Ho-ho-ho, I didn't know you demon slayers could be such softies..." Sophitia murmured into her ear. It took a few seconds for the sentence to hit her, but when it did, she pulled away.

"Hey, hey! I'm a demon hunter, I have to stay focused and you seem to be the only person breaking it! So if you don't mind, could you not do what you're doing right now, at least wait until I finish killing the Bastites." Taki tried to regain her composure. Sophitia held a playful smirk as she slowly nodded.

"Okay... if I must." She added playfully before she slowly lost herself in Taki's fierce almond-colored eyes as they stared back at her.

"You know you two look more like a couple then you think?" A familiar husky voice spoke behind Sophitia. She looked at Taki's annoyed face, which seemed to be looking at the man behind her, and then switched back to her.

"I thought you said he was still tied tight to the tree when you left him." Taki spoke in an expressionless tone. Sophitia just glared at her.

"I thought you said that that Japanese knot of yours was the strongest of the rest." Sophitia noted in a cocky tone. Taki narrowed her eyes at her in return.

"So, did you tell her about the demon threat yet?" Mitsurugi asked with a smirk as if the scene that played out before him was still within his head.

"How did you know about that?" Taki asked in a suspicious tone.

"Who do you think told her what it says? She can't read Japanese!" Mitsurugi returned as if he was amazed that she didn't catch that. That thought never really occurred to her.

"How'd you get him to talk?" Taki asked, obviously surprised. 'I figured I was better at persuading somebody to talk than Sophitia. She doesn't, or didn't, seem the type to do something like that.'

Sophitia tried not to laugh at Taki's expression. "Oh, t'was nothing. I just told him that if he didn't tell me, he'd tell it to your fist." Taki grinned widely as Sophitia smiled during her response.

"Nicely done." Taki nodded in a proud emphasis. "Wouldn't have done it better myself!"

"Yeah, yeah." Mitsurugi spoke with a dulled tone as he looked to the side and crossed his arms as if he was thinking responses for his own defense. "So, when will you be going to the threat?"

"Why do you even care? You tried to kill me!" Taki yelled in disbelief to Mitsurugi's question.

"Actually I was asked by a distressed peasant in the next town to try and find you. I just wanted to see if I could beat you." He spoke in a 'as matter of fact' tone. "I also knew that you wouldn't listen to me and that's why I didn't tell you, so I told her, I wanted to see what she might do to me if I didn't say anything." He had a naughty grin on his face.

"Well, you misjudge people too early. You never know what an innocent-looking person like her might do." She pointed at Sophitia with her thumb. Sophitia stared at her in stunned surprise, then smiled and blushed as she pointed her head down a bit to hide her blush.

"Uh huh." Mitsurugi replied in slight disbelief as he looked at Sophitia. "Well, you two have fun at your demon killing, and if you ever might need me, ninja, let me know." He chuckled as he turned left.

Taki chuckled back sarcastically as she turned towards Sophitia, but not looking at her. "I doubt it." She said in a low voice.

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I hope this one isn't too confusing, I'll explain what Bastites are when I get to them. This took me a while to do and I made sure that I wouldn't turn this chapter into a Soap Opera, I hope I didn't anyway '

You can tell that I like cats and that I loved Catwoman ;P

Again, to Aeris' Savior, No I own a replica of the Sword of Light and used that. And about Taki and Sophitia, the time point is _before_ Sophitia ever shatters Soul Edge. It's during Soul Blade... just to let you know ;P

I'm working on the next chapter for Meeting of the Dirty Minded :) And sorry this one took so long, I had to work on my third-dimensional pics and animation.


	8. Teasing Territories

This one is a little flirty, just a little. Do not own SC characters. Happy readin'

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Chapter 8: Teasing Territories

Both Sophitia and Taki wanted to get the demon hunting out of the way so that they could continue back to the docks. They treaded through another dark forest, luckily not as dark as the forest around the shrine, but it still had an ominous feeling to it. It had small abandoned watchtowers spread across the entire forest, or so they could tell what with the small holes in the walls that were made of stone that was also wearing away.

'Thank the gods Mitsurugi is gone; I think he just slowed us down. The only thing good about him was that we could keep our minds on him and not on each other. Now we have more awkward silences as we walk.' Sophitia thought to herself, trying to let her gaze fall upon anything nearby, except Taki. She sighed silently as she looked back to the dirt-and-stone road. 'I wonder why Taki won't... come close to me. I know I shouldn't be thinking these things, as Taki said; it'll leave us off track of what we are supposed to be doing.' Sophitia let her gaze sweep to the skies, or the parts of the skies that she could see anyway through the many fir trees' thin limbs. ''Cat-like beasts'... heh, I'd like to see them bite me and turn me into a 'cat-like beast'.' Sophitia kept thinking to herself, it was the second to only thing to do to pass the time. The first thing would be to start a conversation with Taki but she was sure that it'll end up merely being small-talk, which Sophitia hated because it would bring the silence back.

"We're heading into a swamp, be careful." Taki informed plainly as she looked from the ground to the damp forests ahead.

"The demons aren't in the swamp are they?" Sophitia could only hope that Taki would say 'no' because it would make the battle a bit more difficult to fight with mud capturing her heels.

"Do you think a cat would live in a swamp?" Taki turned to her with a raised eyebrow to match her cocky tone. Sophitia did the same to Taki's ridiculous question as she slowly turned her head away with narrowed eyes.

"No, of course not."

"Then no, there's a valley beyond this place where the demons inhabit." Taki pointed forward through the now swamp-like trees. Sophitia looked through the trees with an expression of confusion on her face.

"Your country has strange lands. I never passed through all of this; I just went the easy way through the towns."

"I know we have strange lands, in some cases it's mostly because the demons like to change the area that they inhabit."

"They _change_ the area? How is that possible? They're basically ghosts aren't they?" Sophitia sounded both confused and intrigued.

"Well, some demons have auras that emit something that can change the atmosphere around them and-" Taki was cut off by an arrow that shot passed her from behind, it luckily narrowly missed her shoulder. "Who the hell...?" Taki turned to find a person that seems to be an assassin standing right in front of a tree. He was wrapped in black and a single black sash covered his or her nose and mouth.

"You have no reason to be here, this is my territory!" The assassin narrowed, Taki figured by the sound of the assassin's voice, _his_ gaze at her. "You look familiar, have I met you before?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know, idiot!?" Taki shouted while she drew Mekki-Maru. Sophitia watched as she jumped over the assassin and with his back off guard, she drove her blade forward. To Sophitia's surprise, the assassin was quick enough to turn and guard Taki's attack. Taki looked as though she surprised at his sudden defense to Sophitia's eyes. The two of them fought fiercely, Taki giving more successful hits then him, even though he guarded himself quite a bit.

'His back is turned to me; perhaps I can use this to my advantage.' Sophitia crept up behind him and lifted her shield high above her head. She whacked him hard on the head, subduing him. They watched as he yelped in pain and quickly collapsed to the hard ground. Taki looked at her in surprise. "What's the matter? Didn't know I could do that?" She raised her eyebrows and held a small smile.

"No, I just didn't see you." Taki blinked as Sophitia laughed in return.

"Oh really? A ninja who destroys demons couldn't see me. It's funny that that surprised you and the assassin didn't when he turned around." She giggled.

"Actually he did surprise me, a little, I just held it in. I hide as many emotions as I can so that I won't give away my possible weaknesses." Taki explained in an 'as-a-matter-of-fact' tone as she crossed her arms. Sophitia took a slow step towards her.

"Oh? Well in that case that must mean that I bring out a lot of emotions in you." Sophitia's words became softer and softer the closer she came to Taki. Eventually she came so close that it made Taki feel uncomfortable and she could feel butterflies in her stomach, plus the fact that she was backed up to a tree didn't help.

"Sophitia, don't." She spoke in a low voice and a tone that sounded like a plea as she gently pushed Sophitia back. Sophitia backed away reluctantly.

"Alright... I remember what you said about me not teasing you."

"Why do you tease me like you do?" Sophitia's reply was silent, like she didn't want to give away something.

"I... Well, I enjoy it." She stated as if the reason was both meaningful and simple at the same time.

"I realize that and I also realize that you're not giving me the whole story." Taki raised her eyebrows as Sophitia lowered her gaze and breathed deeply.

"Back home, I've never felt something so strongly before. I don't even know why I enjoy teasing you... probably because I find it cute when you seem nervous after a say or do something and I want to see how you act when I tease you. Nobody where I come from approves of this, for somebody of my age doing this to someone else... especially when this person happens to be Asian." Sophitia looked up at Taki, who returned a soft gaze. "I like to watch you fight, it's powerful, quick and mysterious at the same time... I find it funny to watch you go from serious to nervous."

"I never used to be nervous until you started teasing me, which is why I don't want you to. I would like to remain focused thank you!" Taki leaned forward as she chided Sophitia to show how much she meant her statement. Sophitia responded after a short pause and turned straight to Taki and placed one hand behind her back and one in the air as if to promise to truth or something.

"Okay, I promise not to tease you while we are on our demon hunt. Fair enough?" Taki paused.

"No, but I suppose it's better than nothing. I'd rather have you promise that you're going to refrain from teasing me, period!" Taki pushed herself from the tree and continued to walk down the path.

"Oh, I don't think I can promise you that, but I'll see what I can do." Taki turned to look at her with a surprised look on her face, Sophitia was looking through the swamps with a playful smirk on her face, as if she knew Taki was looking at her, and Taki had no doubts on that fact. "I'm kidding. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist." Sophitia grinned at her.

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The swamp wasn't as large as Sophitia had originally thought, she was certainly thankful for that. They had finally made it through the thick swamp and Sophitia saw the valley not even worthy of words, it was more beautiful than Sophitia had imagined, it had acres and acres of full green maple trees with several small streams, all leading to the most beautiful waterfall Sophitia had ever laid eyes on.

"This... is where the demons are?" She asked as she stared at the magnificent valley before her. It looked too tranquil for demons to tread upon.

"They're a bit beyond here, not much further though. I figured we could us this place for a few hours before we finally leave for an attack, might as well rest our legs after all that walking through the mud." Taki was mostly thinking of Sophitia at that point, seeing as to how she had some difficulty going through the swamps and herself knowing that a demon fight was about to happen sometime that day.

Sophitia immediately chose to go to the waterfall, Taki watched her as her golden locks rippled through the air and reflected the sun's light as she ran towards the maple trees. She took off her boots as soon as she got there so that she could soak her feet in the large pool of water that the waterfall poured into as she tried to clean her boots from the mud. Unlike Sophitia, Taki took her time as she walked to the waterfall. She really didn't care how dirty her boots where, to an extent anyway, they were harder to clean.

When she came down she sat right next to Sophitia, wading her feet in the water as she watched Sophitia clean intently. She could clearly picture all the Greek women doing this. She noticed all the woman's features as she continued about her task in a serious fashion, she looked just as serious as when she first came to the shrine. The sunlight beamed down upon her revealing her in a way that would make anybody think she was a real goddess.

'Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?' rang into Taki's head the more she stared at her. She wanted to but couldn't, she didn't have the nerve, plus it might bring another opening for Sophitia to tease her again. She new that Sophitia promised but she didn't trust her.

'She teased me right after she promised not to, I'm sure another teasing sentence will come out again. I better try to keep myself occupied so that she won't notice me staring at her so much.' Taki pulled out her daggers and started wiping one blade at a time.

Sophitia heard a slight squeaking sound next to her; she looked up to find Taki working intently on her unneeded task; the blade seemed already cleaned to her, it only had a few light streaks on it. She looked up to Taki's soft-looking raven-wing hair color as it was still in a ponytail and falling over her shoulder slightly as her head bent forward.

'Why doesn't she let her hair down more often? It looks so beautiful when it's down.' She noticed how much her crème-colored skin brought out her chocolate eyes and her...Lips. Those luscious red lips made Sophitia's eyes stare with curiosity of what she might have felt yesterday night had it not been for Mitsurugi. The thought and possible feeling of simply guiding Taki's chin with her fingers and press them upon her own. Sophitia's eyes widened as she realized what she was doing.

'Ack! No! Look away!' She ordered herself. 'For Taki's sake as well as your own, look away!' She reluctantly obeyed herself. She suddenly realized something; the reason for these sudden feelings is because she didn't feel Taki's lips and wanted to try and somehow make Taki get the idea that Sophitia wanted her to finish what she couldn't because of her timid personality when it comes to emotions like this. "Taki?" Sophitia started in a low and hesitant voice after she brought her gaze to the rippling waters.

"Um-hm?" She didn't stop cleaning her blade as she responded. Sophitia hesitated, but continued.

"I... I think I know the really reason why I've been teasing you." Sophitia kept her eyes on the water's surface, afraid of looking back into Taki's soft eyes.

"Oh really?" Taki stopped and turned to Sophitia and watched her as she stared into the water. "So then what is the real reason?" She wanted to know although a part of her was afraid to ask.

"It's because of that one night that you didn't kiss me." Taki pulled back at Sophitia's tone as it seemed to soften at a slow pace. Taki could see where this was heading, this quick realization made her heart beat faster. "Taki I... I want you to..." Sophitia slowly turned her head and looked deeply into Taki's wooden gaze. "Please kiss me..."

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Hope you liked this one. It's gonna take a little longer for these to get done because I'm running out of creativity... heh heh, just what I need. I'm trying to tone down Sophitia's tease-like self a bit. I'm thinking of writing another Taki/Sophitia fanfic eventually where they chat online and have no idea who each other are but enjoy talking to each other online while in real life they hate each other. But I'm not sure.

To Rachel: Hope you're satisfied with this one

To Silvermoonlight GJ: I like your version of Sophitia better than mine to tell you the truth ;P

To PriestessLennoue: lol, were you on a sugar high when you wrote your last review about Catwoman? LoL Just wondering ;P


	9. A Busy Day

Warning, this chapter contains a LIME, you may have already guessed that, but all well, lol. Do not own SC characters. Hope you like it.

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Chapter 9: A Busy Day

"W-what?" Taki stuttered in surprise, she knew it was coming but it was the shock that she was right that got to her.

"Please kiss me... now." Sophitia leaned closer, her eyes darted between Taki's eyes and her lips. She caressed Taki's cheek with her knuckles, she wanted to place her fingers on Taki's chin and guide her to her mouth, but she wanted Taki to feel what she felt as well.

"Sophitia... I don't think I c-" Taki stopped as she watched Sophitia pull her legs out of the water and face her completely. Sophitia's fingers traced her jaw line.

"I think you can. You almost did once, I'm sure you can try again." Sophitia's hand dropped down to Taki's side, gently pulling her towards her. "Can you also... let down your hair?"

Taki pulled back to the strange question. "Why?"

Sophitia smiled so sweetly that Taki was almost at a loss for words at the sight of her beautiful, innocent face. "Because you look so beautiful with your hair down. Please?" Taki hesitated, then obeyed, it felt strange to do something you never usually do because someone else liked it, but at the same time, she felt flattered for somebody to want to see the beautiful side of her.

'How can I turn down this beautiful woman's lips again, I might never get this chance again.' Taki, lost from her own reasoning, put her hand on Sophitia's neck, pulling her towards her. Sophitia smiled at this, which slowly faded as she came closer. Taki soon felt Sophitia's breath brush against her lips and cheeks, oh how she loved the warmth her breaths offered. She loved even more the warmth her lips gave when they finally met.

Sophitia let out a soft moan in her throat due to the rapid pounding of her heart when she felt what she deeply longed for pressed against her lips. Sophitia's hand traveled up Taki's side, she could feel the ninja's breath quicken as she did this. She smiled at this and pressed her body against the ninja's. She loved this feeling of unlimited warmth, she felt like she could do this the entire day, that was until she felt the ninja's tongue invade her mouth, now she felt like she could do this the entire year!

Taki groaned in her throat as her tongue was greeted by Sophitia's. With that Taki gently pushed the blonde woman to the ground, feeling their wet shins rubbing against each other. Sophitia ran her fingers through Taki's long raven-black locks, making Taki sigh softly; it felt so soothing. She disengaged their lips and smiled playfully as she lifted herself about a foot above the golden haired warrior below her, she smiled even more at Sophitia's bewildered gaze.

"I don't like it when you're always the teaser." Sophitia raised an eyebrow at Taki's words. She felt Taki's hands run up and down her torso and sides. Taki watched as Sophitia's eyes slowly closed as she arched her back a little as Taki's hands went up a third time. When Sophitia bent her head back in pure ecstasy, Taki looked down at her neck like a vampire eyeing its pumping target. She couldn't resist diving down and kissing her neck. Sophitia let out a long moan as she felt Taki's lips and tongue against her neck.

"Uhn...Taki..." She groaned into Taki's ear, sending shivers throughout her entire body. She tilted her head so that the ninja would have better success. She loved feeling the dark locks rub against her cheek, she loved the sweet smell of it as well. With every other slow kiss that she felt on her neck, she ran her hands up and down the ninja's back harder. Sophitia's dangerously overheated body got the best of her as she unconsciously reached down slowly for the opening to Taki's body suit. Taki gasped and snapped her eyes open as she realized what Sophitia wanted next. She immediately pulled away from the arms that held her and back away so that she was completely off Sophitia.

Sophitia looked at the panting ninja before her with a look of question and concern. "What's the matter?" She asked as if nothing was happening before Taki backed away.

"This... This is too fast for me. I'm sorry." Taki panted as she looked down. She didn't want to see Sophitia's possible look of disapproval.

"What do you mean?" She asked in the same tone. Taki looked at her and sighed.

"You tried to undress me, it's too fast for me."

"I did? I'm sorry, I must have not noticed." Sophitia pulled herself up into a sitting position. "Sometimes I do things without even noticing it. It gets annoying quite quickly." Taki looked at her strangely. She had never experienced that before, but she said nothing. "Well, on the plus side; you're a great kisser." She noted with a smile as she backed herself up and leaned against a tree.

"Thanks." She replied in a low tone as if it was nothing as she put a hand through her hair. She looked down at the grass pointlessly not really feeling like adding anything else. She figured she would let Sophitia talk and she would reply if she had to.

"I didn't know a serious demon hunter like you would be such a teaser." Sophitia added in a playful tone.

"I tease only when I'm emotionally pushed to." Taki let that slip out, she didn't really care what Sophitia thought of her now, she had already shone too much of herself by seducing a fellow foreign traveler and warrior. She blushed as she reminded herself of that. "I think we should get going, I don't know if those demons travel through here. It would be wise to destroy them before nightfall." She stood up and pulled her hair neatly back into a ponytail.

Sophitia watched her as she did so. "Yeah, makes sense." Sophitia got up to her feet and brushed her skirt of any dirt that might have gotten on to it. Taki had already placed her daggers into their sheaths by the time Sophitia looked up at her again. Taki grabbed Sophitia's boots and handed them to her. Sophitia fitted them on and Taki walked before her.

"By the way Taki... Thank you." Sophitia said before she started to walk with her. Taki looked at her strangely.

"Why? For what?" Sophitia blushed a bit.

"For kissing me." Sophitia looked to the side nervously, waiting for Taki's reply. Taki blushed a bit herself.

"Oh... Sure... anytime." Sophitia sharply turned to look at her with a surprised look because of the hint 'anytime'.

"R...really?" 'Is she implying that she'll kiss me again if I ask her? Or even if I don't?' Sophitia half-smiled at the idea.

"No." Taki smiled at her reply and the shocked look that she saw in the corner of her eye. Taki couldn't help but laugh at Sophitia's narrowed gaze that had a lifted eyebrow. "Now look who's become the teaser." Taki giggled.

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The sky turned into an ember color by the time they reached the demon's habited area, although it didn't look habited at all. Sophitia thought that Taki was wrong about the demons whereabouts; they were in the middle of a wheat field that was surrounded by trees that looked a bit darker then the ones that they were surrounded with by the waterfall.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Sophitia asked, put then she noticed Taki slowly and cautiously unsheathe her Rekki-Maru and Mekki-Maru.

"Oh I'm sure. This place reeks of the demons' aura. I can sense them, they're near, they're just waiting for the first sight of nervousness or fear, that's what attracts them." Taki spoke in a low voice. "If you see something strange, let me know. If they all come at once, I want you to run, I'll attract them to me." Sophitia looked at her.

"Can't I just swing at the ones who come near me?" Taki chuckled in reply.

"Your weapon might be a weapon of the gods, but it was not made to automatically disburst demons in one strike, like mine." Sophitia looked away and searched around the fields.

"What do they look like?" Taki paused.

"I'm not sure, but from what I can remember from the book, they are supposed to have a head of a cat, long bodies, long arms and long legs. And seeing as to how they are supposed to be spirits of the worshipers of an Egyptian goddess, Bastet, I'm guessing they have glowing eyes."

Sophitia looked back through the trees and within the wheat grass for any sign of what Taki described. "Do you see anything yet?" She asked.

"No, but I can definitely feel them. You?" Sophitia was about to say no when she noticed a pair of huge orange colored eyes with vertical slits within them staring at her unblinkingly within the shadows of the woods. Sophitia gasped at the startling sight before her.

"Yep!" Was all she could say in her reply. The loudness of her reply caused much more sounds to occur, some were a pounding of feet against the ground, others were roaring and hissing sounds. The pounding became louder.

"Watch out!" Sophitia looked in all directions as Taki yelled. She saw that the orange eyes were out of the woods and within the field, their owner running towards her on all fours. She saw a cat-like body, long, like Taki had described, what Taki didn't describe were the horrifying canine teeth and that the demon looked like a cross between a cat and a human.

'This is going to be difficult.' Sophitia thought to herself as she looked at the horrifying figure before her.

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Sorry for describing the tongue-fest to you. I'm trying to tone down Sophitia's teasyness now that she got what she was longing for. That is unless you don't want me to ;P

For a better description of the demons, if you ever saw the third Harry Potter movie, remember what Prof. Lupin looked like when he changes into a werewolf? Well take that basic profile of the werewolf and add cat-like features instead of dog-like features.

Hope you liked this one.

To Silvermoonlight GJ: About Ivy, I really have nothing against the woman because I've read about how much she went through because of Cervantes, but I find her as the perfect person to do the things that I wrote in 'Meeting of the Dirty Minded', just to let you know ;P I hope you liked what I did with this chapter. I tried to have Sophitia not tease her so much and to turn the tables. I'm glad to hear that my storylines are well thought out, in your opinion anyway, I was afraid that I was making them more complicated for the reader ' I agree now that mine is worse than yours, but I like yours better because yours comes out and says what's on her mind.


	10. Restless Night

This one is quite dramatic. It nearly made me cry, and I wrote it! _sigh_ I know, I'm pitiful and I have issues, lol. Do not own SC characters. Hope you like this one.

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Chapter 10: Restless Night (not what you're thinking, I'm not _that_ dirty minded!)

Sophitia noticed that others were coming towards her and Taki as well, all coming in different directions.

"Run!" Taki yelled as she braced herself against her attackers. Taki's eyes widened as she realized that Sophitia moved into her fighting stance. "What are you doing? Run!" She yelled again as she ducked just at the right moment from a claw-like hand that swiped above her.

"No!" Sophitia yelled back as she guarded one of the demons as it pounced at her.

"Why won't you listen to me!?" Taki almost screamed in rage from her attackers fierceness and Sophitia's stubbornness. Taki fought in full fury against each attacker as four came after her at once. Sophitia guarded against two as they swiped their claws at her. She managed to hit them back whenever an opening was left for her, but that didn't stop them, it just slowed them down a bit.

"I won't leave you alone!" Sophitia cried back. Taki had managed to kill one of the demons due to her increase in rage; when a clawed hand thrusts itself towards Taki's stomach, she evaded by jumping over the clawed hand and over the demon completely, and as she landed to the ground she jammed her small sword into the demons back. The demon let out a horrible shriek of pain towards the sky and fell to the ground. This led to a good and bad thing; the good thing was that all their backs was facing her, so now she had clear shots of her last three. The bad this was now that all the demon's had lost their target before their eyes, they found a new target... Sophitia.

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Sophitia guarded miraculously against the both of them, turns out that the two that she fought were feistier then she had anticipated, her agility wasn't as well-toned as Taki's so she wasn't able to make a successful hit until she got the idea of running full speed up one demon's body and when she reached its shoulders, she kicked off of it, sending the demon backwards and losing its balance. When she landed, she thrusted her sword forward into the other demon's chest. The demon grabbed her sword and grunted in pain as it slowly fell to the ground, Sophitia pulled her sword back forcefully and breathed heavily.

"Sophitia! Look out!" Taki called her in a state of panic. Sophitia looked around her and, lucky for her, swung her shield upwards against another pouncing demon coming towards her. The huge impact made the demon fly through the air and landed roughly ten yards behind her.

Taki was able to leap on one of the two demons in front of her and drove it to the ground, she quickly thrusted her small sword into the fallen demon's neck and listened to it let out a shriek of pain. Sophitia and Taki ran towards the last one in front of them as the demon let out a loud, familiar roar at Sophitia. She growled at it loudly in return due to her frustration as she ran towards it. The demon swung its clawed hand at her shoulder as she threw her sword at its stomach, both made impact with their targets. Sophitia let out a loud grunt as its claws slammed into her skin.

Taki narrowly missed the sword that shot through the demon's stomach as she slammed her own into the demons back, she watched as her small sword went through its chest. The demon let out an ear-deafening shriek as it slowly fell to the ground.

Taki tried to catch her breath as she slowly walked over to the fallen creature for Sophitia's sword that was embedded into its flesh. She slowly pulled it out and walked over to Sophitia, who sat on the ground gripping her shoulder. She sat herself next to the blonde and handed the sword back to its owner.

"You're not bad, I guess I should learn not to judge you're gods' handiwork... or their choice in sentinels." Taki smiled. Sophitia smiled faintly back.

"Thanks." Sophitia looked at her, no real reason why, just because she wanted to. She watched as Taki's kind and beautiful face changed into one of horror. "What's the m- ARRRGGHH!!!" Sophitia felt a sharp, burning pain in her upper back as she was pushed forwards and into Taki's lap.

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Taki saw as the demon that they had forgot about pouncing upon Sophitia's back. As Sophitia fell forward and yelled loudly in pain, Taki pulled out her Mekki-Maru and thrusted it into the demon's temple. The demon fell to the ground limply. Taki let out a growl as she watched the demon's life slip away. She turned to Sophitia.

"Are you al-"She stopped as she noticed that Sophitia lay on the ground motionless. Taki could feel her heart beat faster in worry. Her eyes caught sight at four small holes in Sophitia's back, blood dripping from each. "No..." Taki hastily lifted Sophitia's shirt a bit to take a look at the holes without the fabric in the way. Her heart stopped as she saw that the wholes were actually bite marks. She gulped as she slowly turned Sophitia over to look at her face.

Sophitia's eyes were glazed over and her face was extremely pale. One would think she was dead if it hadn't been for the slow, uneven breaths that Sophitia took in.

"Sophitia?" Taki called her in a gentle voice, hoping she would hear a response. Sophitia tried her best to speak.

"Taki?" Her voice was uneven as well and even sounded like a slight whimper. Sophitia didn't look up at her as she spoke; they stayed in the same place, staring into the sky. Her breaths slowly became sharper and deeper. "What's happening to me? Why do I feel so weak? I can't even get the energy to focus my eyes. It feels like a sharp, cold feeling is running through my body. I feel... paralyzed." Sophitia's tone showed how much fear she felt. Taki cradled the younger woman within her arms, laying her head upon her chest.

"Don't worry, I'll carry you back to that waterfall you love so much. You can rest there." Taki spoke in a soft and gentle voice into Sophitia's ear as she slowly rocked her back and forth. She felt Sophitia's breaths become quick and almost a hysterical manner.

"Taki I'm scared." Sophitia almost whimpered in such a tone that made Taki almost cry for her. She placed her head on top of Sophitia's and ran her fingers through her blonde hair trying to comfort and sooth the frail looking beautiful woman within her arms.

"Hush now." Taki gently kissed Sophitia's forehead. "Everything's okay. When we get to the waterfall you can rest in my arms. Everything's going to be fine." Taki continued to speak as softly as she could, although she knew very well that things weren't 'okay' at all. 'Please, both my gods and the gods of this foreigner, please don't let what the book said be true...'

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Taki carried the hysterically breathing woman in her arms, all the way back to the waterfall. Taki knew that she would rest easier here. Taki laid the both of them against a tree, Sophitia leaning against her, her head on Taki's shoulder. Taki didn't want to sleep; she wanted to watch the younger girl the whole night, in case something should ever happen.

Sophitia looked around the best that she could, she wanted so see the waterfall before her. She recognized the spot they were laying on. 'This is where Taki and I almost...' She remembered how much Taki had done for her; from housing her to helping her through this fearful moment. She couldn't because she had so little strength, but she wanted to wrap her arms around Taki and hold her in an embrace as a thank you. The only thing that she could do, even with what little strength she had, was bury her face within Taki's chest.

Taki gasped as she felt Sophitia rub the side of her face against her upper chest. Taki placed her fingers underneath Sophitia's chin and angled her so that Taki could see her face. Sophitia's were still glazed over a bit, but Sophitia tried to look at her nonetheless. Taki's hand that held her chin traveled to Sophitia's nape. Taki looked at her with her soft gaze, then slowly bent her head down. Sophitia whimpered as she felt Taki capture her lips with her own. As soon as she felt Taki's soft lips she closed her eyes, she loved that it was Taki comforting her, she wouldn't have wanted it to be anyone else, she loved the warmth Taki's lips gave.

She sighed as Taki pulled away. Taki continued to look at her as she caressed Sophitia's cheek with the thumb of the hand that held her nape. She gave her a soft smile. "Try to rest now, I'll watch over you." Taki assured in a soothing voice. Sophitia agreed by closing her heavy eyes as Taki rested her head back on her shoulder. Taki soothed her to sleep by running her fingers through her blonde hair. As she did so, she prayed again, hoping that the book was wrong.

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Pretty dramatic/romantic eh? Told ya! Lol. I particularly liked writing this one, it all poured out easier. Most of the chapters I've written were difficult to write. I hope you liked this one.

To Silvermoonlight GJ: About Ivy, yes I remember you writing her as an evil woman. I was officially shocked when Suzuka said that Ivy told her how to release the evil part of a sword that is fused with Soul Edge, I never really pictured Ivy doing that considering her past by Soul Calibur's terms. But it certainly was a twist for me, so it worked ;) And thank you for making me feel better about complicated storylines, your reasoning on that makes sense. And don't worry about the glitch, I picture more coming like that :) And about the whole Sophitia and Taki going 'further'... heh heh.... The story, I realize, is going to be longer than expected... so that won't be happening for a while, thank goddess, I almost didn't survive the LIME, I need time to recuperate. LOL

Besides, I already got somebody calling me a 'perv' because of the pocky scene in Meeting of the Dirty Minded (which I actually got for a manga book), so I need to try and settle myself down a bit, as difficult as that may be, lol.

_Ahem_... Did you get all that Silvermoonlight? LoL.


	11. Transformations

This chapter was an interesting one to write, so I hope you enjoy it. Do not own SC characters.

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Chapter 11: Transformations

_Sophitia ran through a forest very familiar to her. It was the same forest she'd run through when she was little. She felt such adrenaline as she ran and she loved it, jumping over any small obstacles within her way._

_A girl with short blonde hair appeared in the corner of her eye, sitting and leaning up against a tree, hugging her legs to her chest and looking aimlessly at the mass of puddles before her. Sophitia stopped and just looked at the small figure before her. She walked towards her on all fours, she felt more comfortable this way, she didn't know why, but she did. _

_Coming closer to the younger girl, she recognized the girl's complexion. She slowly turned around the tree, still on all fours, to see the side of the girl's face. The girl still hadn't noticed her yet._

"_Cassandra? What are you doing here?" Sophitia asked as she put one hand on the tree. The girl's head slowly turned, Sophitia smiled at her, but it soon faded because of Cassandra's horrified face. Cassandra shuffled on the ground backing away from her sister, trying to get her footing. She shrieked as she finally got to her feet and ran away._

_Sophitia watched her run with a look beyond bewilderment. 'What'd I do?' Sophitia thought to herself as she rubbed her hand against her jaw in thought. "Ouch!" She felt a sliver-like pain on her jaw as she rubbed against it. She looked down at her hand to find a drop of blood on her palm. What caught her eye next made her heart beat with fear, her hand... it wasn't human... it had a human hand's profile, but it was covered in an almost bronze colored fur and her nails could be better named as claws, which were like a small almond shape. _

_She looked at a puddle ahead of her with nervousness. She gulped as she came forward. She slowly took a look at her own reflection and watched as her expression of fear turned into one of shock and horror. _

_She had vertical slits in her eyes, like a cats', cat-like ears with the tips going a little above her head, her flesh was covered with the same bronze colored fur. She noticed something slowly waving behind her, it almost looked like a bronze, furry snake. She grabbed at and tried to pull it ahead of her, to realize that she could feel it attached to her. 'No... a tail?' Her jaw dropped open at the sight, making her notice her long, canine teeth. She hastily scooted herself back to hit a rock instead of the tree that was there a minute ago._

"_You should have listened to me..." Sophitia sighed with relief as she recognized the voice, she didn't listen to what she had said, only that she wanted to listen to her voice. She turned to find Taki sitting on the rock, leaning on her palms upon the large rock, stared back in a neutral fashion. Sophitia noticed that she looked different; a green jacket-like sleeveless shirt and a black almost skirt-like short pants, and her hair was down. _

"_Oh, Taki! Thank the-"She stopped as she tried to stand, but couldn't; she felt a strange wave flow through her body taking away her strength as she dropped her gaze to the floor. As she looked back up to Taki, who's expression hadn't changed, she felt an incredible amount of lust that even overwhelmed her. She tried to shake her head to get the feeling out of the way, but it didn't help. She leaned forward to Taki's leg and started kissing her shin. _

_In response, Taki rubbed the back of Sophitia's head back and forth in an almost encouraging fashion. Sophitia slowly moved up Taki's leg, alternately licking her shin as she went up. By the time she reached passed the joint, she felt the foot of Taki's other leg against her shoulder. Taki sharply pushed her back against the ground. When she landed she looked up with a look of question._

"_Taki? Argh!" Sophitia felt a sharp pain in her stomach, Taki was over her, holding her Rekki-Maru within her stomach. "What are you doing?" She choked out as her strength slowly left her. Taki looked at her straight in the eye, the most serious gaze Sophitia had ever seen her wear._

"_I told you to run, but you didn't, you had to be stubborn... BEGONE DEMON!!!"_

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"No!!" Sophitia shouted into the daylight as she awoke from her nightmare.

"Sophitia?" Taki looked down at the woman in her arms with concern. Sophitia sharply looked up at her, her face changed to extreme horror as she gasped, then slowly relaxed as she realized where she really was.

"I thought you were going to stab me again." Sophitia sighed out as she closed her eyes, trying to settle her rapidly beating heart. Taki's eyebrows lowered with question.

"What?!"

"I had a bad dream." Sophitia stated plainly as she lifted her hand and rubbed her cheek and forehead trying to rub out the sleep. She stopped as her eyes snapped open, she lifted her head and moved the rest of her body a bit in amazement. "I can move?" She lifted herself out of Taki's arms with a smile spread across her face. "I can move! I have my strength back!" She looked down at her hands, then over to the water, hastily running over to the waters edge, she bent over to make sure every part of her was human. Sophitia sighed with relief as everything seemed normal again.

"The process is already starting I see." Taki sighed as she walked towards her. Sophitia sharply turned towards her.

"What do you mean?!" Sophitia almost yelled in a state of panic. Taki's head lowered.

"It starts with a dream... showing you what you are going to look like. Did your dream show a sudden lust?" Sophitia gulped as her eyes darted.

"Y-yes. I felt lust for you." Sophitia's head lowered as she dropped to her knees. "In the beginning, I felt a rush of adrenaline. Then I made my sister run away from me in fear. I saw myself as a beast, then I saw you... you took me as a demon and stabbed me." Taki went down to her knees and lifted Sophitia's chin with her finger and looked softly at her.

"You know I'd never hurt you. We'll stop this, it's going to be hard to slow down the process though. A transformation is only triggered by rage or extreme lust, so you have nothing to worry about." Sophitia let her head fall onto Taki's shoulder. Taki in return pulled her into an embrace.

"If we can top this, then I can definitely get through it. I can get through looking like a cat whenever I should turn into one. Who knows, it might be fun for the time being. Of course I might end up cleaning my 'fur' with my tongue, but..." Sophitia smiled as Taki laughed at the thought. She laughed even more when Sophitia started nuzzling her neck.

"You're acting more like a cat; you're rubbing the same way they do." Her giggling turned into a slight gasp as Sophitia started laying gentle kisses in her neck. "I-is the lust coming back?" She tried to speak between kisses.

"Uh huh, a little." Sophitia spoke lazily as if the words just slipped out carelessly, then let out a grunt that sounded like pain as she lowered her head to face the ground.

"What's wrong?" Taki looked at her with concern.

"My eyes sting, that's all." Taki brought Sophitia's head up to look at her eyes. Her eyes widened a bit, then softened as she sighed.

"You sped up the process a bit, but not much." Sophitia's eyes widened as she looked at Taki and hastily shuffled over to the waters edge to look at her reflection. She gasped as she noticed that the dark pupils of her eyes shaped into vertical, diamond-like slits. "Remember, lust is one of the triggers." Taki reminded her.

"It's funny, in my dream my lust was uncontrollable, almost animal-like. When I smelled your hair, it brought back my lust, the same lust I felt in my dream." Sophitia never tore her gaze away from her cat-like eyes.

"Yeah, Bastet is known for a heightened sexual impulse, so in which the same has happened to you."

"Oh, great. Now you tell me." Sophitia lowered her head after she spoke.

"Don't worry, you just need to remember that you're stronger than the beast and remember mind over matter."

"I know I can do that, it's just I know that there will also be obstacles that will try and get that thought out of my mind."

"That shouldn't be a problem for you. You've handled a demon at the shrine! I think that you can overcome these obstacles." Taki laid a hand on Sophitia's shoulder. "You have more backbone than you think." Taki smiled as Sophitia turned to her, holding a soft smile herself and laid her hand upon Taki's.

"I think you're the first person to tell me that. When I told my father that I was going to stop as much evil in the world as I could, his beer buddies chuckled at me. I wanted to whack them on the back of the head with my shield for doing that. But I held my composure, as much as I wanted to lose it."

"Well, if anyone ever makes you want to loose your composure again, just as me and I'll lose it for you." Taki smiled as Sophitia chuckled.

"Thanks, but I don't think I want anyone impaled by your wrath." Taki chuckled with her at her remark.

"Whatever you say, but that still won't stop me. You know that." Taki smiled.

"Yes I know that quite well." Sophitia wrapped her arms around Taki's waist as she laid her head on her shoulder.

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An the plot begins, heh heh, the next few chapters are going to be difficult and fun to write at the same time. I hope you liked this one. I hope the leg-licking didn't scare you too much, I just wanted to add a form of lust in the dream sequence.

To Aeris Savior: Heh heh, I'll see what I can do if somebody ever calls for a sequel. ;P

To PriestessLennoue: No worries, I'll try and come up with something for Meeting of the Dirty Minded.


	12. Nightmares

This one is pretty dramatic, but pretty good in my opinion. Do not own SC characters.

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Chapter 12: Nightmares

Taki was starting to become worried about Sophitia's willpower against the beast inside of her. She noticed that the iris of her eye was becoming a light golden color although it still maintained it emerald hue. Her eyes also changed their appearance so that the iris looked like chips of malachite, brilliantly shimmering the reflection of the fire before them within her eyes.

Sophitia's thoughts about having her eyes looking this way were neutral. She didn't care by now, at first she was scared, but now it didn't bother her. She actually thought that the golden color forming within her eyes made her look... prettier. The only thing that brought her back to the reality of it all was her dark, elliptical pupils.

She gazed aimlessly at the fire in such a way that people would think that she wanted to burn herself in it. What would be the point of doing that anyway? She wanted to get through this, she wanted to prove to her gods that she was strong, no matter how severe this punishment may seem. The only thing that brought her out of the darkness was Taki.

Sophitia's gaze swept to ninja, who sat adjacent. She noticed that Taki's soft eyes were fixed upon her, but quickly tore away when Sophitia returned her gaze. Sophitia wanted to become closer to this woman, but couldn't; it was too risky. Sophitia hugged her knees to her chest as she looked into the woods through the twitching tips of the flames. She didn't like this emotion that she kept feeling for this woman, she knew it was the fault of the beast inside of her. The physical changes she could handle, but not these twists of emotions that toyed with her heart.

Taki was hiding an emotion from her as well, she knew very well what it was, but was clearly afraid to show it. "Do your eyes still sting?" Taki asked, bringing Sophitia out of her train of thought as she quickly turned to Taki.

"No, not as much, I'm beginning to get used to it." Sophitia replied plainly as she looked back into the fire. The thing that felt strange was that she could feel the expanding and contacting of her pupil as she looked from the darkness if the night sky and the light of the fire. "For some reason my spine and tailbone feels sore." Sophitia admitted as she rubbed her lower back. Taki looked down for a moment, as though she was going to give Sophitia fatal news.

"Your tail is growing in, it might take the night and half of tomorrow for it to come out complete-"

"I'm going to have a tail!?" Sophitia almost yelled as she leaned towards Taki with surprise and disbelief flooding her face.

"You saw it in your dream didn't you?" Taki practically stated as if she was using it for backup.

"Well yes, but I didn't think that it would actually true!" Sophitia leaned even more.

"Well, I'm afraid it is." Taki mentally punched herself; 'You're not helping her by giving her this new information as if it was the dead truth and there's nothing she can do about it!' Taki's conscience yelled at her. "Don't worry, maybe you can curl it beneath your skirt." Taki assured, satisfying her conscience for the time being.

"Oh sure, and what will you tell me to do with my incoming canines when we reach a village? 'Just don't speak'?" Sophitia had her cornered. "What if they call me a demon and try to kill me!?"

"I won't let them." Taki stated in a soft voice. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, I promise." Taki fixed her gaze into Sophitia's as she spoke. Her almond gaze made Sophitia's rapidly increasing rage disintegrate. Taki looked down. "You might as well get some sleep before you feel any other things and speed up the process again." She suggested as she turned back to the fire and slowly lifted her gaze to Sophitia.

Sophitia nodded her head reluctantly as she turned and laid herself down, placing her hands behind her head as she looked up to the stars. She looked over to Taki to see that she hadn't moved. "What're you going to do?"

"Watch over you." Taki spoke plainly but didn't turn her head until she noticed Sophitia's silence. To Taki's bewilderment, Sophitia was smiling back at her, playfully.

"What? _Ho-ho-ho _Are you afraid that I'm going to walk on all fours to the nearest river and start hunting for fish?" She asked with a laugh within her throat.

"No. I'm just afraid that you'll have another nightmare. You've been having more than I thought you would." Sophitia made a face saying 'oh come on...' as she turned on her side, her back facing Taki.

"Don't worry, I'm getting used to them." Sophitia stated as she shut her eyes.

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Taki knew she was lying; After only maybe half an hour of silence, Sophitia started twitching and mumbling in her sleep. After hearing what sounded like an 'I'm sorry...' escaping Sophitia's lips as she rolled onto her back, Taki felt pity for her and walked over to troubled blonde. She let her fingers caress the side of Sophitia's neck and shoulder bone a few times before she actually cupped it.

Laying herself next to the sleeping figure, she brought her lips close to Sophitia's ear just so that she could whisper, but not wake her. "It's okay... it's okay."

Sophitia slowly relaxed and cooed and rolled her neck slightly at the warmth that this illusion sent down her body as she rolled over and pulled her illusion into her arms. She nuzzled her illusion's cheek in a cat-like fashion with all the love she could muster. The illusion in response kissed her lips gently and briefly. Sophitia was motionless for a moment, before she quickly dived in and captured her illusion's lips and kissed them forcefully.

Taki was taken aback by Sophitia's sudden attack, she only kissed her once and Sophitia's response nearly pinned her down. Taki tried to pull away, knowing what this might cause to Sophitia in her dream, but Sophitia held her so close and so tightly that Taki couldn't escape. That wasn't what was keeping her there though, it was the fact that she _wanted_ this woman's kiss, she _wanted_ so desperately to roll on top of her and kiss her back with the same amount of force but couldn't.

Taki tried to wake the woman by saying her name but her words were muffled buy Sophitia's lips and tongue. Sophitia slowly stopped and rose above her, keeping Taki pinned to the ground, Sophitia's eyes were barely open. 'She's still in a dream state.' Taki pondered.

"Let me ask you something..." Sophitia spoke in a dulled voice although sounded different with a look of icy confidence. He voice sounded deeper, seductive even.

"When I asked you to kiss me at the waterfall, why did you seduce me?" She asked coyly with a playful yet knowing smirk.

Taki, completely taken aback to the question and the look on Sophitia's face she could only think to wake Sophitia while she still had a chance. "Sophitia! Get a hold of yourself!"

With a back-breath she awoke, losing all her strength and falling on top of Taki with a yelp. "You sped up the process again!" Taki scolded. Sophitia looked up at her with rage and disbelief in her vertical slit eyes.

"Me!? I see you were the illusion that started all of this!" She pointed at Taki.

"I was trying to sooth your nightmare!" Sophitia just looked at her, rage fading from her face but still held disbelief.

"Well your _soothing_ didn't help much, did it?" She stated cockily as she rose from her resting spot and leaned upon her knees. "Now, if you don't mind, get out." She gestured her head to the side as a sign for her to move.

'I notice when rage consumes her, it won't stop easily, not even if she's comforted.' Taki deduced in her head as she reluctantly got out from under Sophitia. "You have to try and learn ways to calm yourself..." Taki stated as she walked away. Sophitia turned to her sharply, her eyes wide.

"_Calm myself?_ CALM MYSELF!?!? HOW CAN I CALM MYSELF WHEN I WAKE UP WITH YOU UNDERNEATH ME, HAVING CAT-LIKE EYES, AND KNOWING THAT I HAVE A DAMN TAIL COMING IN!?!? PLEASE TELL ME, I'd love to know!" Sophitia's roaring could be reheard with the echo of the forest as she nearly whispered in a cold voice by the end of her sentence.

Taki even figured what would be the point in trying to stop her? It would probably make things worse. Taki checked around Sophitia's face for any sign of progress. Remarkably, nothing changed. Taki at first figured her ears would begin to point upwards but didn't. "IF YOU-"Taki stopped herself to lower her voice to a softer tone to calm Sophitia down. "_Ahem..._ If you don't calm yourself then things worse than a tail will come, so rest yourself. Stress, frustration and anger are coming through you by force, and that you certainly don't need-"

"No kidding!" Sophitia yelled sarcastically as she turned to the ground. She forcefully got into her resting place and curled up into a ball. "If I happen to be yelling, twisting or turning in my sleep... don't try to _sooth_ me or else I'll impale you!" Sophitia threatened as she shut her eyes tightly and curled up tighter. Taki let out a sigh as she sat in her original spot and watched the fire.

'Sophitia wouldn't say anything that but a beast would. This is only a phase of the process, it will grow and fade with time and there's nothing I can do about it, but for now, I just have to calm her in any way possible. Otherwise the transformation will be much harder for her...'

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As I said, dramatic. I'm satisfied with how I wrote this and I hope you were.

To PriestessLennoue: Lay off the pocky sticks and coke! LOL. ;P

To Aeris Savior: lol, Samanosuke from the Onimusha series would be pretty difficult to add in, although it would make a good substory if I could just fit it in. :P


	13. A Change in Destination

The chapter title speaks for itself. Enjoy! Do not own SC characters.

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Chapter 13: A Change of Destination

Taki was awakened by a blood curdling wail, startled she looked around herself to see Sophitia looking behind her. "What's the matter?" Taki asked in a tired voice as she rubbed it out of her eyes with her hand.

Sophitia didn't speak, she just slowly turned around holding something with the shock still I her face. She looked at Taki hoping for an explanation holding the long new part of her body that was covered in light-bronze fur. "You told me this thing wouldn't grow out completely until the middle of the day today!" She yelled shaking the tip of her tail at her.

Taki stared at it wide-eyed, then her eyes narrowed. "It grew out quicker probably because of all the screaming you did yesterday!" Taki scolded as she stood up. "I told you your rage would speed up the process."

"Well how do you suggest I stop it!? Should I just knock myself out so that I don't feel any emotion!?"

"STOP YELLING!!" Taki nearly screamed as her face portrayed frustration and even slight rage. "You're making it worse!" Taki looked down and sighed. "With the rate that this is going..." Taki rubbed her face with her hand. "I might have to take you to Egypt, seeing as to that is the place where this curse originated." Her hand moved down the side of her neck. 'This trip is going to be a long one.'

"Egypt... argh! I just want to go home." Sophitia sighed.

"Well you can't exactly go home looking like that can you?" Taki asked knowing she was right. Sophitia looked up with soft eyes then looked down closing her eyes and nodded to her idea reluctantly.

"How close are we to the docks?" Sophitia didn't open her eyes.

"Close. Only a few miles."

"Really? Hmm, I thought the trip to the docks would be longer." Sophitia raised and eyebrow.

"Me too, but I guess with so much going on things seem faster." Sophitia looked up to Taki, who just stared back.

"Erm, how much longer until my... um... fur... should grow in?" Sophitia asked hesitantly, she never thought she would say that. Taki thought for a minute.

"Two, maybe three days. That is if you behave yourself." Taki smirked.

"I might have a little difficulty doing that." Sophitia admitted trying not to smile.

"I know." Taki smiled for her.

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The walk to the docks was the most awkward thing to do for Sophitia. Feeling her tail wag behind her she trained with it a bit. She taught herself to make it sway more elegantly and to curl it beneath her skirt so that she could be ready to hide it when she got to the docks. The fun thing about it was whenever she had an itch on her back she would make her tail rub it for her.

"I see you're having fun with that thing." Taki suddenly spoke up, a small smile spread across her face. Sophitia sharply looked up with surprise.

'Was she watching me the entire time?' Sophitia thought nervously. "How did you know what I was doing?"

"It's hard not to notice when your skirt starts swaying in so many different directions." Taki stated plainly but still smiling.

"It's hard not to notice or hard to keep from watching?" Sophitia smirked and narrowed her eyes. She giggled as Taki's head shot up at the question then blushed deeply as she looked at Sophitia at the corner of her eye briefly then looked away.

'Maybe I should let that go, I was kidding anyway.' Sophitia looked down as she smirked. "Can I ask you a serious question Taki?"

"Uhh, sure." Taki responded hesitantly.

"I had a dream last night and you were in it...."

"I know. The one you had when you fell on top of me?"

"Yeah, and in my dream I asked you something."

Taki remembered the question and was afraid of where this was heading. She watched as Sophitia looked up.

"Why did you seduce me?" She asked in a soft voice as Taki gulped.

"Erm, are you sure you want to know?" Taki gave her one last chance to turn away from all this.

"You have no idea how sure I am." She lowered her voice. Taki took in a deep breath before she answered, she didn't want to lie to her.

"Well... I..." Taki stammered trying to think of a way of how to put this. "I wanted more of you, you came so close, I wanted to burn the feel of you onto me." Taki spoke softly, afraid of looking into Sophitia's eyes.

Sophitia's face was neutral for a second then grinned naughtily with narrowed eyes. She strode over to Taki and when behind her she grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close stopping them from their walk. "Sophitia what're you doing?"

Sophitia did nothing but smirk as she brought her lips close to Taki's ear. "If you wanted more of me why didn't you just say so?" She spoke in such a seductive voice that it sent shudders down Taki's back as she spoke into Taki's ear. After a few entrancing seconds of feeling Sophitia's chest against her back Taki ripped away.

"Cut that out Sophitia, you know that isn't going to help you. And I know that isn't really you it's just your cat-self speaking." Sophitia's grin faded and blinked.

"You're right, I-I haven't been myself ever since I've became... what I am." She rubbed the back of her head.

"I know. Lets just focus on nothing but getting to Egypt, alright?"

"Yeah... yeah sure." Sophitia said in a low obedient voice as she followed Taki's path to the docks.

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"Do you know which ship goes to Egypt?" Sophitia's eyes widened at the mass of ships in the distance. The town, or better called a city, was flooding with people, either her to board a ship or to buy items from the thousands of money hungry merchants. She would always remember the walk as being long and awkward, but it was much better than having a sudden flash of rage or lust, they both were like a strong addiction to her.

"I asked, it's the medium sized one over there, with the larger center mast and three wind sails." Taki explained as Sophitia looked for a match.

"The one with the red flag?"

"Yep." Sophitia looked at the ship that seemed pretty well built. "When is it leaving?"

"In exactly sixteen minutes. Oh! And don't forget to hide your tail." Sophitia looked down to find her tail poking out from underneath her skirt, she immediately pulled it back underneath. "I need to pick up something from one of the merchants so we need to weave through all the people I'm afraid."

Sophitia raised an eyebrow. "What do you need to get?"

"Um, you'll see." Taki tried to avoid the subject, what she needed to get might not make Sophitia feel any better.

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Going through the crowd of people was actually easier than Sophitia thought it would be. It was easy for Taki being the slippery ninja that she is, and for Sophitia she slipped right between the people which she was sometimes good at in her own town, but now she seemed even better at it. Perhaps the reason being what she was now? Having the swiftness of a cat. 'I hope not, I like being faster through the crowds than before.'

"Here's the stand!" Taki shouted to Sophitia through the noise of the crowd. She pointed at the merchant's stand, which held different clothing, mostly cloaks. Taki bought a long, brown, baggy coat with a large hood from the eager merchant.

"A cloak? Why do you need a cloak?" Sophitia asked raising an eyebrow. 'And how is she going to wear that and stand it in the desert?'

Taki turned to her but didn't look her in the eye. "You might need it." Sophitia just stared at her, then her eyes suddenly widened.

"I'm not going to wear that thing!" Sophitia protested as she pointed at it. "I'm not going to hide underneath it like any mysterious evil man or demon would!" Taki suddenly jolted towards her and stopped when she was so close that they could hear each other breathing. Taki looked at her straight in eye never wavering.

"We are going to be on a semi-full ship for three months at the most, do you _want_ people to stare at you!? I'm sure you don't want that kind of attention!" Taki tried to whisper through gritted teeth, her eyes fixed on Sophitia's.

Sophitia sighed and took the cloak, she was right; it'll only make the trip more difficult if she didn't wear it. She hung it on her arm and held it close as she headed for the ship, letting Taki lead.

Getting on the ship and letting all men, brute and frail, walk passed, Taki was prevented from actually stepping foot on the ship itself by who appeared to be the first mate.

The towering figure asked Taki what seemed to be a question by the tone of his voice it was hard for Sophitia to tell because it was in Japanese. She listened to Taki speak to the first mate.

'I love listening to her speak in her own language, it fast and complex but I love hearing her speak it; it's so interesting to listen to.' Sophitia thought as she smiled at their conversation, but it faded at she watched Taki grab the first mate's collar and pull him down and close to her face and whispered something through gritted teeth.

The first mate just stared at her, unmoved, then said something which made Taki thrust him back, clearly showing her frustration by her snarl. She grabbed her sack of coins and threw them in his hand and said something viciously. He stepped aside to let the two pass onto the ship. Sophitia just followed the angered figure before her until they reached one end of the ship and looked over the horizon.

"What happened?" Sophitia asked as she placed a hand on Taki's tensing shoulder.

"He was just being an ass. He said that we weren't signed up to come aboard this ship and threw an insult at you saying that he would let me on if I give you to him, that's when I grabbed him by the collar." Sophitia just stared at her then smiled at her for caring about her so much.

"Thank you." Sophitia said in a sincere tone as she rubbed Taki's shoulder with the hand that was already upon it. "How did you get us on? Did you bribe him?"

"Yeah, with the money I gave him. I'm surprised he didn't notice your eyes."

"I'm surprised no one else has." Sophitia noted as she leaned onto the side of the ship, crossing her arms and looking into the water of the bay.

"That's because you keep your head down most of the time, the rest of the time people noticed but probably don't have the time to take a second look." Taki explained as she looked to the sky over the ocean. She hoped that Sophitia's tactic of keeping her head down stayed that way, they were on a ship full or rowdy men who do anything to get into bed with either of them, especially Sophitia. Should any of them notice, they could end up dead before they even reach shores of Egypt!

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You can already tell that this is going to be a long one. The next chapter should be interesting I can assure you. I hope you liked this one :)

To PriestessLennoue: The thing about the cat, that is freaky! Felt like Sophitia just walked out of my fic eh? Yeah, I'm afraid that the other fanfic of mine is over with, I might be adding more to the chapters later on, but yeah, it's over... sorry --

I noticed you like the Pope-cicles bit, thought somebody would, especially you since you down a bag of sugar per day!

To El loco: I would add Astaroth, he would be a nice addition to show off Sophitia's coming strength, but I already had him in Meeting of the Dirty Minded and it would seem repetitive if I had her beat the crap out of him again.


	14. Voyage with a Not So Ordinary Maiden

This one was fun to write. Do not own SC characters. Hope you like it!

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Chapter 14:Voyage with a Not So Ordinary Maiden

Taki and Sophitia had both been discreet on the ship that has been out to sea for about a month and a half, they were halfway there. But to Taki it was only a matter for time before the men became suspicious.

Sophitia's process had become complete by now; she now had light bronze fur that had the length of a short-haired cat. Taki specifically told her that she must keep her cloak on at all times, no matter what. She even had to keep her hood up because of her cat-like ears with the tips going above her head. Taki had also told her not to look straight at a man she might speak to because they might notice her canines that grew in as well. Her clawed hands weren't really a problem because the sleeves were long enough and Taki didn't think that anyone would really notice anyway.

Taki could remember when her fur first started to show, Sophitia was so annoyed by her own fur that she tried to shave it off with her sword, but it was no use it would just grow right back in a matter of minutes.

She could also remember how Sophitia thought that her ears had an advantage and disadvantage; the advantage was that she could now hear what all the men were saying so if any said that they were suspicious, she would know and lower her profile. The disadvantage was that she could hear when men would speak rudely of either her or Taki by saying how badly they would like to sleep either of them. She would almost lose her temper in a split second if she heard them say that about Taki, she was even liking the idea of walking up to them from behind and stabbing them in the back and listening to their final yell of pain, but she tried her best not to do so.

Taki watched with a smirk on her face as Sophitia stared at the water passing below them, her eyes were fixed on something, she didn't even blink.

"What kind are passing now?" Taki asked the cloaked figure next to her with a smile.

"Blue fish, lots and lots of blue fish..." Sophitia informed her eyes never moving to another target. Taki tried her best not to giggle as Sophitia licked her lips. This certainly was the first time Sophitia stared at fish on the voyage. She started doing this even before her fur grew out, not only this, but when the crew would bring the wind sail up and down, Sophitia would eye the rope with in their hands, Taki could tell she had a strong urge to bat it with her clawed hand.

'Poor girl has countless cuts on her lips because of those canines. She can eat meat without utensils now; she can rip right through them. I've seen the crew stare at her in awe as she eats meat like she hasn't eaten in days. I'm sure her meat of choice right now is fish.' Taki chuckled, though of course she would be interested in nothing but fish; she's a cat-beast!

Sophitia suddenly jerked a little over the railing of the ship, staring at her target in even greater awe; looks like her target is playing with her senses and the predator inside of her is enjoying her prey's little game as it swam in the ocean.

Taki's eyes widened; 'She looks like she's about to jump over!' Taki was about to pull her back to bring her back into reality but then she noticed something moving excitedly inside her cloak near the hem. "Sophitia! Your tail!" Taki tried to whisper as she grabbed her tail from the outside of the cloak to stop it. Her tail moved frantically in her hands for a few seconds then stopped. She looked up to find Sophitia looking down at her with eyes betraying surprise, then slowly relaxed. It seems that Sophitia didn't notice that Taki yelled at her to stop her tail, she was too busy eyeing the fish below.

"Sorry... sometimes I do things and I don't even notice remember?" Sophitia spoke in a soft voice.

"Yeah, well, these 'things' are happening more often that you think." Taki let go of Sophitia's tail and stood up straight looking right at Sophitia. "Do you know what'll happen if people start noticing that something's moving underneath your cloak!?"

"Yes, yes, I know, I'm sorry." Sophitia's head lowered as she looked out to sea.

Taki sighed and rubbed her hand across her face. "Just watch yourself, okay? I don't want anything to happen to you. I mean my finding you sleeping on the railing of the boat is one thing, but climbing over it to get some fish!?"

"I couldn't help it! It felt like the fish was challenging me to try and catch them, and I could feel my mouth watering at the thought." Sophitia defended.

"I know it's difficult but try to remember who you really are, okay?"

"I know perfectly well who I am!" Sophitia suddenly turned to her, looking at her straight in the eye as if Taki's sentence almost a threat.

"I know you do but that seems to be slipping from your knowledge lately." Taki stated.

"I-"Sophitia suddenly stopped and yelled loudly as she bent over and placed her hands over her ears. Everyone nearby turned to stare at her for a few second then slowly turned away thinking it was nothing, just being dramatic over something.

"What's the matter?" Taki walked closer to place a hand on her back, but she stood up before she had a chance to. Sophitia kept one hand on her head, her face portrayed confusion.

"My head hurt for a couple of seconds." Sophitia rubbed her head, her face showing slight pain by trying to remember the feel of the strange happening. 'It was like the sound of a high pitch screech of some sort.' "But I'm fine now." Sophitia stated plainly as she turned to look at the sea again as if it never happened.

Taki just watched her with concern spread across her face. 'What was that about?'

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The sea glistened with the colors of the twilight sky, Sophitia hadn't moved much; she figured it'd be for her own good if she didn't look straight down because otherwise she'd spot another school of appetizing fish. She never knew why she liked the thought of just diving in and catching one, she would just become entranced by them and start to feel a sudden hunger. Once she caught herself thinking 'you can't get away from me...' when she watched a school of fish race against the boat.

What happened earlier that day in her head was the strangest thing; it was like receiving a sharp migraine for two seconds then suddenly disappearing, it couldn't be because of the sea; it would be too sudden.

She was thankful that Taki was here though, otherwise she would jumped off the boat days ago. 'She may be strict at times but she looks out for me.' She looked up to Taki's direction, which was on the edge of the boat and a few feet away from her.

She gazed at the woman who leaned on the railing and stared at the amber sky. Her tied up ebony hair swayed in the wind and seemed to shine the colors of the sky as it did. Sophitia stared even more at Taki's focused eyes that reflected the light of the ocean and sky together. Her eyes almost looked like they were divine. She wanted nothing more than to walk over and wrap her arms around her waist and watch the remainder of the sunset with her. 'But if I do that, knowing her, she'll probably just get suspicious and push me away.'

"Argh!" The pain in Sophitia's head struck her again, this time it was longer and a little harder, making her fall to her knees and grabbing her ears again as she fell. Grunting until the pain stopped, which was five seconds later, she felt soft yet strong arms around her, keeping her from falling over. She looked up to see the same sky-light eyes that she marveled at a few seconds ago. Her gaze softened as she felt so comfortable in her arms and let her head fall back on Taki's shoulder and closed her eyes just to savor it as long as she could.

"It happened again!?" Taki asked the figure who leaned upon her. Sophitia merely nodded, her eyes still closed. "Does this always happen to you when your on a boat?"

"No." Sophitia answered plainly. She heard footstep that became louder and louder as they finally stopped before her. Taki and Sophitia looked up to find the first mate looking down upon them with a face that could either be a smirk or a scowl, it was rather hard to tell.

"Listen, Greek, you're making an awful lot of noise for such a frail-looking woman." He stated, to both their surprise, in Greek.

"How should you know how frail I am when I'm under a cloak idiot?" Sophitia suddenly asked sarcastically. This was the first time she had ever spoke to someone like that, but considering that he broke a moment that could've grown and that he was willing to take Sophitia for his own, she was in no mood to be considerate. Plus the beast within her was speaking mostly and she let it say whatever it willed her to.

"Well I can get the hint by how weak you seem to be. Do you have any idea how annoying and noisy you've been?" He raised an eyebrow.

Sophitia's eyes narrowed. "Depends upon how long you've been watching me. That and the fact that I don't care."

"Oh you don't care huh? Okay, well then just for that you've been labeled as stowaways, unless I take your 'ninja' friend here as payment. I would enjoy the extra fun." The first mate grinned evilly at Taki, who narrowed her eyes and was ready to pull out her Rekki-Maru, but Sophitia already jumped in before she did.

"I'm sorry, but over my dead body." Sophitia stated as she stood up right in front of him.

He chuckled. "That can be arranged."

"Oh I'm sure it can." Sophitia stated sarcastically as she suddenly had the urge to show the first mate what he was really dealing with. She removed her hood and watched as the first mate's smirk turned into an expression of surprise and horror. She heard Taki gasp in surprise.

"What're you doing!?!?" Taki scolded. The first mate pointed at Sophitia with a fear shaken hand.

"DEMO-"Before he could say anything else, Sophitia's canines pierced his neck. Taki just stared wide-eyed as she did so. The two watched as Sophitia's victim slid from her canines and fell to the floor. Sophitia could taste the blood that enveloped her teeth.

"You could've just stabbed him at least! Why did you bite him!?" Taki whispered so that the others wouldn't hear, although her whisper was a failed attempt. Sophitia just stared at her victim, in silence.

"It... It was a reflex, I didn't know that I was going to do that, but..." Sophitia gulped. "I think someone whispered in my head to do so." Sophitia lowered her voice, she slowly looked up as if she just disregarded what just happened. "That's what he gets for almost calling me a demon."

"Someone whispered it?" Taki asked in a tone of disbelief. "Maybe it was just your inner beast speaking to you."

'Maybe." Sophitia looked down at the first mate's corpse, his face still portrayed horror. Taki figured his yell might have attracted others so she thought the only way to get rid of the body was to dump it over board. Taki did it herself thinking that Sophitia had done enough.

"Well, at least he won't give us anymore trouble." Taki stated as she watched the body hit the water.

"Heh... right." Sophitia didn't pay much attention to what Taki said, only to the whisper that she heard, the voice was sounded like someone whispering to you from the other end of a labyrinth; it was so dim. 'Maybe Taki was right; maybe it was nothing.'

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You'll find out where the whispers are coming from in the next chapter: "Divine Intervention" This one poured out of me as well and I know that Sophitia biting someone's neck like a vampire is a bit of a shock but I had to do it.

To better explain Sophitia's headache, think of it as the sound that happens when a microphone and speaker are too close together and is ringing loudly in your head.

To Aeris Savior: Link would be a good addition, it's just finding a place to stick him in is the problem....

To PriestessLennoue: Yeah, I feel bad for Sophitia as well, not much you can do besides pound them into the ground to teach them a lesson. Lol.


	15. The Guide

Do not own SC characters. I've decided to change the chapter name. 'Divine Intervention' will be the next chapter.

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Chapter 15: The Guide

'Grrr... Why won't these speechless murmurs leave me alone?!' Sophitia yelled in her head as she scratched it violently with her fingertips due to the frustration; she had been receiving these whispers were becoming more and more common with each days' passing. Each whisper didn't make sense, but they still told Sophitia something she understood, and yet she didn't. Some had even given her dizzy spells; one minute she'd be fine and the next she felt like she would topple over if it hadn't have been for Taki who would catch her if she ever did fall and was always by her side since the start of these murmurs.

There were three things that Sophitia was thankful for; one was that they were coming close to the Egyptian shores so she could finally get rid of this damn curse upon her, the second was that the screeches in her head had stopped since the two she previously had, the third was Taki.

"Maybe you should lie down." Taki suggested softly as she gazed at the troubled woman next to her.

"I'm fine." Sophitia stated plainly as she looked down to the sea's waves as she reflect the sunlight.

"You certainly don't look it." Taki replied in a low, serious voice.

"I'm fine!" Sophitia shouted back but didn't turn to look at her. "I think you should focus more on thinking up an alibi as to where we were when the first mate disappeared." She negotiated as she lowered her head more as if she didn't care as to what Taki might think up.

Taki let out a long sigh and agreed to Sophitia's idea. People were already starting to be suspicious of Sophitia because she always kept her hood up. Taki wasn't sure of how to get out of that one. She ran a hand through her hair as she rolled her neck and heard a few cracks as she closed her eyes. She was unaware that Sophitia was watching idly through the corner of her eye, enjoying the sight as the wind caresses Taki's raven black hair. "I think we have three more days left, lets just hope that they don't get any more suspicious."

"I just want to reach Bastet's temple." Sophitia suddenly stated. "I want this... curse lifted from me."

Taki's gaze softened as she looked at the blonde woman staring aimlessly at the sea. "I know you do, just try to hang in there through the whispers your getting."

"I'll try." Sophitia replied in a soft tone.

Taki looked up from the beautiful woman that anyone would pity and noticed another woman who stood tall and straight at the other end of the ship. Her long, wide-waved hair and the darkest shade of black that even Taki had ever seen and she was from Japan! Her skin was a tanned bronze-like color, and she was covered from neck to toe in a cloak-like robe a darker shade of brown that Sophitia's cloak and kept her hands in the robe's wide pockets. The woman stared back into Taki's gaze in a blank fashion. Taki narrowed her gaze at the woman as she slowly looked away, when Taki looked away from her, she was still able to notice a small smile on the woman's face.

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Since the first mate's disappearance, the men grew more and more restless with each night. They've even become shaken enough that a single man is chosen and forced to patrol the ship's deck each night for any other strange happenings. People could choose to stay on deck for the night at their own risk, one who chose this was Sophitia; it was just something about the moonlight that entranced her, she never really took long looks at it until now. Taki always stayed with her even then, just so that she could keep an eye on her.

Taki would sometimes notice that same woman that she'd saw earlier that day upon the upper deck, staring at the moonlight as well, but not as deeply as Sophitia. The two sat upon the lower deck as the patrolman came by, looking at the both of them briefly. Taki noticed a strange scowl in his eyes, and so thus her eyes narrowed at him in return as he left them. Sophitia didn't notice him, nor did she care if he did come around, all she cared about now was the moon.

Taki noticed that the patrolman came back, but he didn't leave, he just stood there.

"Why do you always keep your hood up? May I ask." He asked, although his 'may I ask' didn't sounded more like a demand. Taki let Sophitia answer, but she remained unmoved. "Answer me woman!" He shouted as he leaned forward so that his voice would have more force.

"What business is it of yours?" Sophitia replied simply as she continued to stare at the moon. The patrolman's face showed rage and frustration.

"It _is_ my business because _I_ believe that _you're_ the one you murdered our beloved first mate!"

"'Beloved'?" Sophitia chuckled, completely missing the threat within the patrolman's voice. Although Taki knew that he was threatening her but didn't care. "Maybe a beloved first mate to pirates." She added.

The patrolman growled as he reached for his dagger tied to his leather belt, but was stopped by a hand. The two looked up to find the woman with the long black hair holding him back.

"I know she didn't murder anyone." Her voice was deep and sultry. "I was here, I watched her that night, she didn't do anything of the sort." She added simply.

"You must've been watching the wrong person; I _know_ she did it." He growled at her as he yanked his arm from her grasp.

"I'm guessing you have proof?" She asked as she placed her hands on her hips and shifted the weight on her legs. The patrolman stammered, looking for something to say back; he didn't have anything to stand up to her besides a feeling. He grunted and stomped to one of the upper decks to continue his patrol.

The woman watched him leave with a small smile on her face. She turned back to the two women who just stared at her.

"I-how?-you..." Sophitia stammered with a look of bewilderment on her face.

The woman smiled softly as she leaned forward so she could whisper. "I know what you really did and I'm sure it was an accident, at least at first." Sophitia said nothing as she stared into the woman's, to Taki and Sophitia's surprise, amethyst colored eyes.

"You saw what happened?" Taki asked in surprise.

"I only saw him when he fell to the ground and when you threw him into the sea." She whispered so softly that Taki could barely hear her. "I hear you're trying to reach a temple?" She looked at the both of them with a rather confident look.

"Yes, the temple of Bastet." Sophitia stated.

"Oh? I'm returning to Egypt and my family lives near Bastet's temple. Coincidence eh?" She smiled sweetly. "I could take you there if you wish." The woman lifted herself to full height as she spoke, the same smile on her face.

"Why would we ask you the way when we don't even know your name?" Taki asked suspiciously. The woman placed a hand over her chest and sighed.

"I'm so sorry, heh, my manners... my name is Setsuna. And you?" Taki could clearly recognize her Egyptian features.

"I'm Sophitia, she's Taki." Setsuna seemed to not mind looking at the hooded woman sitting below her, as if it wasn't strange to her. Her gaze turned to Taki who maintained a neutral expression to Setsuna's smile. After the few seconds that Setsuna smiled at Taki, Setsuna suddenly showed a face of slight pain as if she was poked hard with a needle.

"Problem?" Taki asked raising an eyebrow.

Setsuna looked up briefly than down to the floor. "No. It's nothing, just saltwater got into my eye from a small splash of the waves." She spoke plainly. Taki just stared at her.

"You're the only person that could take us to Bastet's temple, so, do you mind?" Sophitia asked in a rather desperate tone that didn't pass unnoticed.

"Of course not." She smiled kindly.

Taki through a look at Sophitia, clearly saying that she didn't trust her. "Sophitia, can I speak with you for a moment?" Sophitia didn't have time to answer; Taki grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the other end of the ship so that Setsuna couldn't hear. "What do you think you're doing? We hardly know this person!" Taki whispered.

Sophitia looked down. "More whispers came into my head while she spoke to us. They are still dim but I can just barely understand their meaning." Sophitia looked up to meet Taki's soft gaze. "They are all telling me to trust her."

Taki just starred at her. "Are you sure these couldn't be just false instincts?"

Sophitia nodded her head. "I'm sure they aren't instincts. The murmurs are really telling me to trust her."

Taki sighed as she rubbed her nape. "Fine." Taki replied plainly. 'But just because you and these whispers trust her, it doesn't mean that I'm going to.'

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Spending their last few days on the ship with Setsuna was both good and bad; she told anyone that felt that Sophitia killed the first mate that Sophitia had nothing to do with it. The bad thing was that they were afraid that Setsuna would notice any differences about Sophitia, such as her tail wagging when she watched fish and the bronze-like fur on her arms and her claws. She didn't notice such things now, but to Taki it was only a matter of time before she did.

Finally reaching the shores of Egypt, for Sophitia, the word excitement was an understatement. "How far is her temple from here?" Sophitia asked in an almost desperate tone as she kept her eyes fixed on the port.

"Oh not far, just have to pass through the port and a city that's dedicated to Anubis, then you reach my village." Setsuna informed. She stood next to Sophitia, watching as the ship glided next to the dock. Taki watched as the crew jumped off and tied the ship to the dock. She noticed in the corner of her eye that Sophitia became dizzy again, she caught her before she could fall to the ground.

"Murmurs again?" She whispered into Sophitia's ear. Sophitia nodded. Setsuna looked down at her briefly.

"Perhaps the sea air has finally gotten to her?" She asked Taki in a low, serious voice.

"Of course not!" Sophitia protested as she tried to raise herself using Taki's strength. "I'm Greek, I'm used to the sea air."

Setsuna stayed silent until they reached the inside of the port town. She figured it was better to get off and out of sight as fast as possible so that the men aboard the ship would hopefully forget about them or at least wouldn't bother to look for them.

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Getting past the small port town that certainly wasn't as crowded as the Japanese port town, the sun shined brightly so Sophitia tried her dear best to keep herself covered, despite how hot it was.

Taki looked and listened for any signs of trouble between creatures, assassins, bandits, and any of the ship's crew looking for revenge for their fallen bastard of a first mate.

The town wasn't very populated, but was long, all that could be seen were merchants, stone buildings, someone passing by them every so often, and a whole lot of sand and stone roads that were scorching beneath the sun.

They all knew that they had reached the town dedicated to Anubis by the golden statues of Doberman dogs.

"What is Anubis the god of?" Sophitia asked as she eyed the statues and figurines of the town's beloved god.

"Mummification... basically." Setsuna spoke plainly. "I think cats are much more honorable than dogs are. Dogs attack enemies without even thinking. Cats think before the act, plus they are swift and nimble, and due to their small height they can hide and fit in any place." Setsuna stated plainly.

"I couldn't agree more." Sophitia sneered at a few of the dogs that stood guard at Anubis' doors to his temple. The dogs stared at her, Taki could tell that they had the urge to run and jump at Sophitia, she was sure they could smell her fur even from their distance.

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Taki was relieved that they made it to Setsuna's village, she was afraid that if they stayed any longer in the town dedicated to Anubis Sophitia would've started hissing and scratching at the dogs of the town.

"Why don't you just point us in the direction of Bastet's temple and you can finally leave for your own home." Taki suggested, hoping that she would agree with it. Setsuna turned and smiled sweetly.

"Oh no, I couldn't do that. My home isn't far from here, besides, Bastet's temple it still a little difficult to find." Setsuna continued to walk in front of them. Taki turned to Sophitia with a look of disappointment while Sophitia just shrugged and followed Setsuna.

Getting to the goddess' temple really wasn't all that difficult; they only had to cross a desert with endless heat which didn't seem to bother Setsuna very much but it nearly killed Sophitia. Taki couldn't imagine how hot it has to be underneath a layer of fur and a cloak. Setsuna still wore the same robe but she didn't have a layer of fur.

"Well this is it." Setsuna informed, only Taki and Sophitia saw nothing but more mountains of sand.

"Um, I don't see anything." Sophitia spoke up with a dry mouth. All Setsuna did was smile in a sort of excited way. The two natives of Egypt watched as Setsuna slowly lay her hands together as if to pray. After a few minutes of doing so Taki already became annoyed.

"What to you think your doing? Is the heat getting to you or someth-" Taki stopped as the earth beneath her began to tremble. She looked up to see a temple slowly form under the sunlight, every detail came into view on the temple as if sand was pouring out of it to make the detail.

Setsuna slowly turned and locked eyes with Taki, a smile on her face. "This temple, as you can see, is a special one." She said as the rumbling stopped and the temple became complete. Golden statues of Egyptian Maus appeared at every corner, golden double doors and concrete walls with ivory vines trailing down them evenly. Sophitia and Taki marveled at the sight.

"Let me show you inside." Setsuna walked ahead of them, up the staircase to the doors and used all her strength to open the golden double doors. When she did, she gestured for them to go ahead of her.

The inside was very beautiful; rather dark in the corners it had a dim light coming from the center of the room. Two large statues were at the other end of the room, one was Bastet, a woman's body with the head of a cat. The second was unknown to them, it was a woman's body with a lioness head. Before them was a platform with a single bridge that led to it.

"This place is beautiful Setsuna." Sophitia spoke as she looked in awe at the interior. 'My murmurs are clear now, did the whispers come from this place? When the temple first showed itself, whispers were in my head that sounded more like muffled echos that slowly sharpened.' Sophitia thought to herself. She slowly turned to Setsuna. "How did you know how to make the temple-"She stopped as she looked at Setsuna, who longer looked like the person they met on the boat.

Taki turned to see why Sophitia stalled, then she realized why. Setsuna now had her cloak off, but even if she had it on, it still wouldn't have changes Taki's expression. Setsuna's face now looked just like Sophitia's; cat-like, her ears were pointy and a little longer than Sophitia's. Her fur was dark brown and her hair seemed to be a little longer. She did indeed have a tail that was fluffier than Sophitia's. Taki could do nothing but stare at Setsuna's vertical-slitted eyes, still having her purple color but with a hint of gold in them. Her hands were on her hips and she smiled cutely, showing her canines.

Her clothes were that of an Egyptian high priestess, wide golden necklace, two thick bracelets on each wrist, belt with a red ruby in the buckle, and white linen clothes that was basically a short top and long skirt.

"Welcome to my mother's temple." She spoke coolly as she smiled warmly.

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Didn't see that one comin' eh? This is the longest one I've ever written, I didn't think that it would get this long. I hope you liked it, and I know I sorta sped through the arrival, but I did what I could.

Setsuna's original name was Amanra, so if you see 'Amanra' anywhere let me know.

To PriestessLennoue: I'm sure I didn't help you much. Lol. You only got two packs? :O You gotta get more than that the next time you go! ;P

ToWitch-Hunter 51: yeah I know it's a little scary... I do what I can, lol.

To Kenshinlink42889: Heh, any place else you would like me to bite the next person? Lol.


	16. Divine Intervention

Well, here's all the explanations. I hope you like this one, it was a pain to write even though I've thought about it so many times. Do not own SC characters.

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Chapter 16: Divine Intervention

Taki and Sophitia just stared at her in awe as she held the same smile. She casually walked over to Sophitia and slowly pulled down the hood of her cloak, her kind expression didn't change as she saw what was underneath it.

"Don't be afraid, I'm no different than you. The only difference between you and me is that I'm a demigod, that's why I was able to change into a cat-beast so fast." Setsuna stated coolly.

"I should've seen this." Taki suddenly spoke. "I should've known, how else were you able to hear us when we were on the boat; you were on the other side of it. How you spoke so fondly about cats, and when you flinched on the boat, got salt water in your eyes, that wasn't it, someone or something was speaking into your head. Isn't that right?"

Setsuna's eyes narrowed a bit. "I'll have you know that that _something_ happens to be the voices of the two goddesses that stand before you!" Setsuna spat, then slowly calmed herself as she looked down. Taki turned to look at the statues of the two goddesses.

"So... they spoke in my head as well..." Sophitia spoke softly.

"I speak to all my daughters in their minds, I cannot come before them nor can I see them outside of my temple. Setsuna, I wish to see my new daughter."

Taki and Sophitia spun around to find the source of the voice, which was deep and had a soft motherly tone to it. The voice seemed to come from the back of the room, Taki had a look of bewilderment on her face; she thought it came from one of the statues.

"Of course mother." Setsuna spoke but didn't move.

Sophitia and Taki watched as the statue of Bastet seemed to change, its body becoming more life-like and colors from her garments started to show, as if someone was painting upon the statue. The eyes soon showed color of a brilliant crystal blue with, of course, black vertical slits. The statue began to move forward off of its stage as it brushed off any extra sand as the transformation completed. The goddess was very elegant and graceful as it moved towards her three visitors. She smiled as she gazed at Sophitia and gasped slightly.

"She's perfect. She'll fit right in." She came closer to Sophitia and raised a hand to brush a strand of hair behind Sophitia's ear. "Beautiful too." Bastet smiled, to Taki it was odd to watch a woman with the head of a cat to smile. Sophitia just stared and remained silent.

"Yeah, I knew you'd like her, she looked promising when I saw her at the Japanese port." Setsuna stated.

"She'll fit right in where?" Taki spoke up, suddenly in alarm. Bastet smiled at Taki briefly.

"There are maybe twelve more that are half-beasts as well. Setsuna, show them the book of all those that were gifted by me." Setsuna nodded obediently and went rummaging for the book.

"Getting into someone's head is quite difficult to do without causing any major pain. What pain did you go through?" Bastet asked with a look of concern.

"Ju-just sting in my head, like a migraine almost." Sophitia answered hesitantly. Bastet let out a sigh.

"Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I'm sure the second one was worse, Sekhmet was the one that pried into your head and told you to bite that man on the boat."

"The first mate?" Sophitia questioned as Setsuna came back from the front of the room holding a book with papyrus pages. She was nervous to take a look inside, she let her finger slowly run along the edge of the book before she opened it to find sketches of women in their cat-beast forms, all beautiful yet mysterious at the same time. When she got to the back she found herself, holding her sword and shield in a very proud pose.

"Heh, not half bad." Taki was looking over Sophitia's shoulder and at her image. Sophitia's gaze rose a little as she slowly turned her head to look at Taki with a raised eyebrow. Taki just gazed back at her.

"Well, you being the real person is much better... _Ahem_." Taki stammered a bit as Sophitia's eyebrow raised more. Taki slowly looked away and placed her hands behind her back as she straightened herself. Sophitia smiled shyly as she gently yet quickly brushed her lips against Taki's cheek, who sharply turned to look at her and smiled sheepishly. Both seemed as though they didn't know or even care a goddess and her demigod was watching them. Bastet raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"_Oh well isn't this a cute sight."_ Another voice broke in, Bastet spun around and looked at the second statue that seemed to go under the same transformation as Bastet only in a quicker, sharper way. The lioness moved across the floor in a more abrupt way, as if she were marching to a battle area. The woman's voice was deep but had more of a serious tone to it.

"May I introduce Sekhmet; Goddess of rage of war and the heat in the desert." Bastet informed. Taki could already tell that Sekhmet was associated with war due to the linen that she wore, it bore the color of red. The goddess had blazing green eyes and had round pupils, if you took a closer look, the edge of the pupil seemed a little jagged in texture. "She helped me in a few battles. We are never usually seen together like this, but when it came to cat-beasts, we are linked." Bastet stated as Sekhmet stood next to her and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I kind of want to see what this new girl has in store in a warrior sense, seeing as to how she'll be joining us."

"Who said I would be joining you?!" Sophitia abruptly spoke. 'I'd rather not be spoken of as if I'm an addition to a collection!' Sophitia thought to herself. "All I want is to be normal again please. You turned me into this and I want to be myself again. What must I do to prove this to you?" Sophitia pleaded, Taki heard her voice crack.

Bastet and Sekhmet were taken aback; no one had ever refused a gift from the gods. Bastet understood nonetheless, but Sekhmet thought of the mortal as foolish.

"To prove yourself, why not just fight a demigod? Setsuna, perhaps?" Sekhmet suggested. Bastet turned sharply to her with a look of concern on her face.

"How is that going to prove anything?" Bastet asked, shock stricken with the thought of telling her own daughter to fight another cat-beast, and one as fragile as Sophitia appears to be.

"You'll see. Just watch." Sekhmet smiled evilly as she strode over to the back of the room.

"Setsuna, do you mind?" Bastet asked, concern still flooding her face.

"I'll do as you wish mother." She spoke plainly. Bastet walked slowly over to the back of the room with Sekhmet.

"Sophitia, do you?" Bastet wanted to make sure that she wasn't uncomfortable about this sudden decision.

Sophitia's gaze became solid, strong and fierce. Anyone could tell she was more than ready. "I'll do what ever it takes to make myself... myself... again." Sophitia shed her cloak and let it lay on the floor as she walked to one side of the stage. She drew her sword and readied her shield. Setsuna didn't hesitate to walk to the opposite side of the stage, on her way she grabbed two Arabic swords, each with a rope looped around the end of the hilt. One hilt she held in her right hand, the other she wrapped the looped rope around her left wrist. She raised the sword in her right hand and kept the sword in her left hand behind her as she gently let it sway from side to side behind her.

"Ready?" Setsuna asked with a smile and narrowed eyes.

"Just fight me." Sophitia ground her teeth together, she couldn't wait until the fight both began and ended so that they could turn her back to normal, she couldn't wait to have the rage and lust flashes out of her, most of all, she wanted to spend time with Taki as a human, her as a cat-beast didn't seem the same, and since the beast part of her will be out of her soon, Taki wouldn't push her away. She looked to Taki, who backed away to get herself out of the way. She looked at her with a soft gaze, how she loved those almond eyes that always looked at her with a sense of love, she was not only doing this for herself, but for Taki as well.

"No no, you two won't be using weapons." Sekhmet noted, Setsuna obediently threw her weapons to the side, Sophitia was hesitant about this, this was the first time that she fought against someone without her weapons. She reluctantly laid her weapons to the side and took her place on stage once again. "You two may start whenever you-" Sekhmet stopped and was taken aback a Sophitia fiercely came towards her opponent and threw her claws forward.

Setsuna, unshaken, dodged Sophitia's thrusts. Setsuna found an open spot as she dodged another thrust and took it. She slashed Sophitia rather lightly across the side, hearing Sophitia grunt as she tightly shut her eyes.

Sophitia became annoyed immediately and threw the back of her hand against Setsuna's cheek. Setsuna yelped as she bent over a bit due to the force. Sophitia took the advantage and kneed her into the stomach. Sophitia watched as Setsuna fell to the ground.

"I'd think you'd do better than that." Sophitia mocked.

"I'd think you'd learn to keep your guard up at all times." Setsuna did a leg sweep and brought her opponent to the ground with a thud. She rolled over so that she was on top of Sophitia and held her down. She leaned down so that she was close to her ear.

"You know, Taki would also make a nice addition don't you think?" Setsuna taunted with a smile.

"I won't ever let that happen." Sophitia spat.

"Oh ho, Why? It isn't like you love her or anything like that right?" Sophitia hesitated, but she knew the answer well. She rolled the both of then so that Sophitia was on top. She raised her clawed hands and started to thrust her hands into Setsuna's face. Her opponent, however, was quick enough to roll out of the way and just ended up slamming her claws into the floor.

Setsuna pulled herself to her feet and kicked Sophitia in the chest, sending her a little ways across the floor. Sophitia quickly got to her feet despite the pain she felt in her upper chest. She ran up to Setsuna on all fours and leaped into her, slamming her claws into her shoulders. Setsuna grunted as she hit the floor with Sophitia on top of her once again.

Sophitia growled as she fiercely punched Setsuna in the stomach and to the jaw. She shot out her hand and grabbed Setsuna's throat. She slowly lifted herself from Setsuna's body and lifted Setsuna into the air by her neck.

'Finally, I'll show even the gods that I deserve to be normal again.'

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Taki just stared as the upper hand jumped between the two.

'Wow, she really wants to become human again, I wouldn't blame her either.' Taki thought to herself but then watched as Sophitia lifted Setsuna into the air. Her eyes widened at the look on Sophitia's face, it seemed almost menacing.

"Sophitia! What are you doing!?" Taki shouted. "You're becoming more of a beast than a human!"

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Sophitia stared at the woman in her fist, struggling for air, her face broke into a smile.

"Sophitia! What are you doing!?" She heard Taki shout to her, she turned to she Taki's horror stricken face. "You're becoming more of a beast than a human!" Sophitia's menacing face slowly turned to one of shock and realization. She gasped as she let Setsuna out of her grasp and hit the ground. She slowly looked at her hand, which shook.

'My gods... I'm even becoming the demon that possessed Taki!' Her shaking hand came to her mouth as she dropped to her knees. She looked over to Setsuna, who choked and gasped for air.

"This one isn't meant to be a cat-beast. It's too much for her to handle." Bastet noted quietly as she watch the rather fear-stricken smaller figure before her. 'Was this what you were hoping for Sekhmet!?' She thought as she narrowed her eyes at Sekhmet, who watched the scene before her, unmoved, but still rather taken aback.

Taki ran hastily over to Sophitia and wrapped her arms around her from behind and kissed her cheek. The younger woman shivered in her arms. She felt Sophitia's clawed hands touch her arms and held her tighter as she slowly ran her hands up and down her arms. Her gaze swept to the two goddesses who had their eyes fixed on the two of them.

"I think she deserves to be what she used to be, don't you?" Taki spoke in a way as if she wasn't asking them a question and wasn't their opinion.

Bastet slowly nodded her head as she strode slowly over to the two. She pulled something out of her pocket as she kneeled down to them; it was a necklace with a scarab pendant. Sophitia refused to look at the beautiful sight that was the pendant that was nothing but gold with rubies and amazonite stones, she just kept her head down and her eyes closed.

"You might need this, it'll protect you from any harm." Bastet informed in a gentle tone.

"Why? What harm?" Taki asked, bewildered.

"If you want to be a human completely, you have to go to the river of renewal, it'll turn you into a human again. It isn't that far from here. Setsuna can show you the way."

"That is if I can move my abs enough to walk properly..." Setsuna spoke up in a broken voice as she rubbed the back of her head. "Speaking of pain I would ask you, Sekhmet to never shout in my head again like you did on the boat when I met them!" She eyed Sekhmet, who just smirked.

"Why didn't you kill the Japanese woman when I told you?" Sekhmet asked as her eyebrows lowered with question.

"Because I only listen to my mother's orders, plus I knew Sophitia wouldn't do much without her." Setsuna spoke plainly.

"You can't turn her back to normal?" Taki was in complete disbelief at what Bastet said as Setsuna and Sekhmet were oblivious to her. "How could a goddess not change a person back to normal?"

"Becoming a cat-beast is a permanent process, the river of renewal can fix that." Bastet informed.

"And how far is 'isn't far from here'?" Taki asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

"Other side of the desert. It looks like an oasis." Bastet stated plainly, then sharply turned to Sekhmet.

"Sekhmet, don't make the heat too fierce for them, alright?" Sekhmet paused, then sighed as she looked to the side.

"Alright, if you say so." Sekhmet spoke a little reluctantly. Bastet turned to the two of them with a warm smile.

"Tomorrow you three will leave. You certainly won't be meeting anyone else in the desert, so I don't think that you'll need that cloak Sophitia." Sophitia looked up slowly and nodded slightly.

"I still believe that you would've made a fine cat-beast once you've gotten control of your desires. It was nice to have met you in the least. And from the love that I'm picking up between you two, I'm sure you two will live happily in each others arms." Bastet spoke in a sincere, wistful voice that made both Sophitia and Taki blush slightly as they both tried to hide it.

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To Kenshinlink42889: I hope you were satisfied with this one, I could have them do another but just for fun when they get to the oasis. ;P

To Aeris Savior: I'm working on Link... trying to get some ideas for scenes he could be in. :)

To Witch-Hunter 51: I'm glad you like my story, I love getting your reviews, as well as from others of course. ;P


	17. Mystical Oasis

Do not own SC characters, do own Setsuna. This one I think is my best chapter, but you'll just have to see for yourself. :P

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Chapter 17: The Last Step

"I thought Bastet told Sekhmet to _not_ have the desert be too hot for us." Sophitia noted as she realized the dryness of her throat. They had been in the desert for who knows how long; it seemed like hours. Setsuna had actually been quite nice to the two of them as she escorted them to the oasis, keeping her two swords at her side just in case. The heat didn't seem to bother her, of course she was in her human form once again. The thing that caught Taki and Sophitia's attention about her the most was her amethyst eyes and how she was so much like her mother.

"Oh she's done worse, much worse, we don't have much longer to go, maybe fifty-three miles... You know you should really consider the advantages of being a cat-beast." Setsuna suddenly noted. Sophitia's head shot up, Taki noticed that her ears bend back a little.

"Don't start with me, okay? That's like a evil necromancer saying you should really consider the advantages of being a demon." Sophitia spat. Setsuna abruptly stopped and slowly turned to Sophitia with an eye that would make anyone feel small, but Sophitia stood her ground.

"Cat-beasts created by the lovely goddess Bastet were never made for a means of evil. For your information, we stop all Anubites from committing any crimes that they may do." Setsuna informed as she tried to calm her tone.

"What are Anubites exactly?" Sophitia crossed her arms over her chest.

"They are Anubis' minions." Taki suddenly spoke in a plain voice. Taki just decided to walk ahead of them; she wanted to get out of the heat so badly.

Setsuna and Sophitia just looked at each other one last time before the started walking again.

"Have you ever seen an Anubite?" Sophitia raised an eyebrow as if she didn't believe her.

"I faced an army of them once, the are easy for Anubis to spawn. Anubis isn't a horrible god really, it's just that his Anubites can get out of control at times." Setsuna's eyes were fixed on her invisible path before her as she spoke.

"I see, of course you know that you haven't exactly changed my mind." Sophitia noted. Setsuna remained silent as her gaze swept to the mountains of sand. "Do you _like_ being a half-beast?"

"Hey, it's not like a have a choice anyway, unlike all the other cat-beasts I can change to a human form, but that's just because I'm a demigod. By the way, I didn't really mean what I said about Taki, I just wanted you to get more aggressive, I wanted to see how far you'd go." Setsuna didn't look up.

"Well I hope you learned your lesson." Sophitia smirked.

"Yes, I think so." Setsuna smiled as she rubbed her throat.

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What seemed like another six hours seemed to pass. Taki figured they'd at least see some sign of green from the oasis; the sun has already turned into an orange sunset.

"Are you sure that there even _is_ an oasis in this desert?" Taki had to ask as she turned to Setsuna with a raised eyebrow. Setsuna squinted as she looked ahead, then relaxed her eyes as she smiled.

"Oh we are very close, we made good time. It's just over the three sand dunes. And yes of course there is such an oasis; I used to come to it when I was little."

"How old are you now?" Sophitia let her words slip out before she could catch them. Setsuna's eyes darted as if she was afraid to reveal her age. "You look about in your early thirties." Sophitia noted. Setsuna looked down.

"I'm... I'm defiantly not in my thirties." Setsuna seemed a little flushed.

"Then what are you in?" Taki started to become interested as well. Setsuna's eyes shot towards Taki briefly then lowered them again.

"I'm two-hundred and sixteen years old." Both Sophitia and Taki's eyes widened in shock and disbelief.

"W-well." Taki started. "If it makes you feel any better you sure look good for your age."

Setsuna chuckled. "Well, I'm the daughter of a goddess, what can you expect. Many other demigods are unlike me." She noted as she looked back to where the oasis should be. "Well, that's enough about me. Let's keep going, I'm sure you can't wait to turn back to normal Sophitia." She didn't look back to Sophitia as she spoke, like she was nervous of what these two might think of her.

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Both Taki and Sophitia sighed with relief as they saw that Setsuna's estimation was correct. They took sight of the beautiful oasis before them, it had hundreds of palm trees with a few openings, obviously being the water of the oasis.

Sophitia wanted to run to it, it was her way to freedom from this 'gift' she was given. She smiled widely as she walked ahead of the two. Coming closer to the trees she could feel her own tail wave around excitedly behind her. She searched frantically around her for either a stream or the oasis itself. She turned to Setsuna with a look that she could clearly read.

Setsuna smiled warmly. "It's straight ahead. You'll know it when you see it." Sophitia grinned as she let out a breath before the continued.

"Are you sure that you sure that you don't want to wait until at least tomorrow so that you can say goodbye to your 'gift'?" Taki smiled as she walked to Sophitia and rubbed her knuckle against the back of Sophitia's long ear. Sophitia let out a fake laugh as she let Taki pet her.

"I'm pretty sure, thank you." Sophitia's eyes slowly closed as she felt Taki pet her even harder and leaned into it.

Taki began to hear a dim purr become louder and louder; she couldn't help but smile as Sophitia rubbed her head slightly against her knuckle, then her eyes suddenly snapped open.

"Is that me?" Sophitia asked bewildered. Taki laughed at this.

"You couldn't even tell that it was you?" Taki chuckled.

"All I was doing was breathing!" Sophitia let a smile come out. She purred more as Taki rubbed her forehead against her own and Sophitia rubbed back, then felt Taki move down and nuzzle her neck. Taki did this only because she loved hearing her purr, not only did she love the sound but also knowing that Sophitia was enjoying this.

Taki felt Sophitia's canines pinch her shoulder lightly. Taki pulled away a bit. "What'd you do that for?" Taki wondered what the purpose of doing that was, not that she really minded.

"I had an urge, I'm sorry." Sophitia actually smirked at what she did.

"Yes well, before you have any more urges maybe you should find that stream of yours." Taki grinned. Sophitia narrowed her eyes and grinned as she turned to go look for the stream.

"You had to do that huh? Making her purr more." Setsuna smirked.

"Do you ever do that?" Taki asked trying to hold in a smile but failed miserably.

"Sometimes I catch myself." Setsuna said plainly but had a small smile as she looked forward.

"Can I ask you something?" Taki asked Setsuna as she watched Sophitia walked ahead of them, way ahead of them.

"Sure, what is it?" Setsuna held a small smile.

"Why did Bastet give us this thing?" She lifted up the scarab necklace that she kept in her pocket. "What harm would we come across in a place as remote as this?"

"Well, this place is known to quite a few mythical creatures and some can be quite hostile-"Setsuna stopped as she heard Sophitia yell her name.

The two raced to Sophitia weaving their way through the mass of trees to find her standing in front of a stream that seemed to have a white glow. They could see the stone wall trickling the divine waters quite heavily.

"Is... is this it?" Sophitia spoke in a low, weak voice.

"I believe so..." Setsuna smiled, partially knowing Sophitia's reaction. Setsuna thought that she would literally jump in, but Sophitia just calmly dipped her foot in to see if it would work. She watched in awe as the fur on her foot began to erase away.

"It really is the river of renewal." Taki stated as she watched Sophitia lift her foot from the stream. Sophitia dipped both feet in and walked to the waters that fell gently over and down the stone wall. She let the warm water trickle down her face and the rest of her body. She opened her eyes and watched as the fur slowly erased away as the water fell upon her skin. Letting the water pour in her mouth, her long nails, of course her tail bone, watching her tail that she will surely miss shrink back within her, and even her eyes, hoping that her pupils will become round again. The strangest thing about this was that she couldn't feel if there were any changes.

When she felt that she had turned every part of her back to normal, even making sure that her canines would shrink down all the way, she stepped out of the waters and looked at the two that watched her.

"Well?" Sophitia asked nervously.

"I think you got everything." Taki noted as she circled her.

"Really?" Sophitia tried to hold in her overpowering excitement.

"Um, ladies..." Setsuna spoke up, the two looked at her to find her face flooding with concern as she looked into the mass of woods behind her.

"What's the problem?" Sophitia asked a bit worried because of the look on her face.

"You might want to draw your weapons." Setsuna unsheathed her two swords and when into the same posture that she was in before she fought Sophitia.

"Why-" Taki's question was answered when a dog-like creature with a human-beast like body and a hooked sword in each hand jumped at Setsuna. She grunted as she was brought to the ground but pushed the creature off with all her strength.

"What in Hades is that!?" Sophitia shouted as she drew her sword.

"It's an Anubite!" Setsuna shouted back as she turned into her cat-beast form with a growl. Sophitia watched as Setsuna was enveloped in hazy clouds of white as she changed. She growled with a more animal-like sound to it as she swung her blades wildly at it.

"How did it get here!?" Sophitia questioned with surprise.

"How am I supposed to know!?" Setsuna shouted back as she attempted another strike but failed and gave herself an open spot that the Anubite took. It swung the point of its hooked end and cleaved it into Setsuna's shoulder. Setsuna roared from the pain but gave the Anubite the chance to strike her in the stomach. Setsuna merely grunted as she felt the blade pierce through her stomach. Slowly falling to the ground, she tried to gather her strength to pierce her blade through its face just so that the wicked grin on its face would turn into one of shock, but couldn't.

Taki swooped in and sliced its back open while its guard was down. The Anubite howled with pain to the sky then sharply turned and tried to strike her in the chest, but her reflexes were fast enough for her to guard it, much to Sophitia's relief.

Sophitia ran towards her and tried to swing at its side, but it could smell the scent of another coming towards it. It whipped around and tried to strike her but she was able to guard just at the right moment. The two women fought fiercely against the minion of Anubis. It was amazing how well-toned its reflexes seemed to be.

The Anubite eventually found an opening and struck Sophitia across the cheek.

"Sophitia!" Taki shouted in alarm as she heard her yelp.

"_What a common weakness you humans have_." The Anubite suddenly spoke in a raspy sounding menacing voice as its eye narrowed at Taki, as quick as light itself it jammed its blade into Taki's chest. Taki screamed in pain and when she finally stopped she just stood there as if she was going to faint, then slowly fell to her knees then upon her stomach before she took one last love-filled gaze at Sophitia.

"I'm sorry... I... I love you... don't think even death is going to stop me... Sophitia." Taki whispered before she hit the ground.

Sophitia just stared at the horrifying sight. She could feel her eyes slowly swelling up with tears. Her eyes darted to the Anubite, which held a menacing stare, she could swear she could see it smiling at her. To this, she could feel the rage growing within her stomach then slowly reaching to her chest. Her face portrayed all the evil things that soared through her mind about how to kill this bastard minion. She could feel the aura of her lost canines within her mouth as she began to hiss at it. Taki didn't deserve this, neither did herself, nor the death that took Setsuna. Her fist tightened, her nails dug into her skin but her anger was so powerful that she didn't notice, nor did she care.

It just stared as if it was waiting for her to attack and fail in her attempt and die like her comrades by its blade.

"You... I'm going to... going to..." Sophitia spoke in a menacing whisper being forced out. "I'm going to KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD DEMON!!" Sophitia shouted in pure rage. "You killed the only one I ever really cared for, the only one I've ever loved!! YOU'LL PAY DEARLY FOR THIS!!" Sophitia screamed as she lunged toward the Anubite laughed evilly at this woman's foolish rage.

The two fought a battle more fierce than Taki and she had ever done together. Sophitia growled fiercely with each strike, she had hit the Anubite more time than it had hit her.

The Anubite roared with frustration as it whipped its blades at her weapon so hard that they were thrown from her hand. As she watched it fly she was pushed into the stone wall. The Anubite cleaved its blade through the straps of her shield and let it fall to the ground, leaving her completely vulnerable. It seemed to smile evilly at her, she could guess what it was thinking.

"I'm alone, you made me be all alone, I'll never forgive you for that." Sophitia spat. She watched as the minion of Anubis raise its blade high in preparation for its fatal strike. It chuckled evilly as it did so until its eyes widened with shock as it felt a blade being pushed through its back. It howled as the blade was pulled back after a few seconds of being embedded within its body. The attacker then jammed its blade into its nape, making its howl cease. It slipped off the blade and turned into black dust before it even hit the ground.

Sophitia just stared at the pile of black dust as it was blown away by the wind. She looked up to take a look at her savior, but gasped in surprise as she saw Taki standing right in front of her, smiling warmly.

"Now what would make you think that you'd be alone?" Taki grinned at her.

Sophitia just stared in awe. "What in Hades?" Taki answered her question by lifting the scarab necklace that was tied around her wrist.

"I guess it really does mean it when it protects you from harm." She opened her body suit where the Anubite had struck her and her wound was gone. "I certainly did feel it, but it was strange, it was like when it pulled its blade out, it healed itself as quickly as the Anubite thrusted it in." Taki stated, then grinned with love flooding her eyes as she stared at the motionless beautiful woman before her. "Remember I said that not even death was going to stop me."

Sophitia just stared in disbelief. "I...I..." Sophitia's speaklessness was replaced by Taki's lips. Sophitia sighed as she closed her eyes in pure joy as she felt her own soft tears stream down her cheek. After a few blissful moments Taki pulled away.

"Should I say it again?" Taki asked with a smile.

"Say what again?" Sophitia tried to wipe away her tears.

"That I love you."

Sophitia paused then grinned widely as she stared straight back into those beautiful almond orbs. "Sure, but not before I kiss you back and say the same."

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I hope that wasn't too confusing, I'm going to have another chapter, of course.

Oh, and about the shoulder-biting, if that's strange to you, then I should have you know that my cat does that to me whenever I pet him enough. :P

Keep those reviews comin' :)


	18. Moments of Magic

Do not own SC characters, do own Setsuna. This one is a little slow in my opinion. I hope you like it though :)

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Chapter 18: Moments of Magic

Taki wasn't sure if having this feeling for Sophitia or anyone else for that matter was the right thing for a ninja such as her to feel, but that didn't mean that she wanted it to end. Even caressing Sophitia's cheek was the sweetest thing to her.

"You fought brilliantly while I was down, I was waiting for the right moment to come back up." Taki grinned as she let her fingers run down the back of her ear and along her jaw line.

"You could've gotten up and kept going you know. Do you have any idea what you did to my heart by doing that!?" Sophitia scolded but couldn't help but smile by the movement of Taki's fingers as they trailed down the side of her neck.

"Well, I was afraid of doing that because then it would've just used you as a weakness against me, even though it couldn't possibly kill me while I wear this thing..." Taki raised her wrist that had the necklace tied around it. "It would've still killed a part of me if something ever happened to you, that wound on your cheek was enough for me to take." Taki pointed at the long slit-like mark on Sophitia's cheek as it let the blood run down her face.

Sophitia wiped the streams of blood away the back of her hand, only to have the drops of blood return. Taki's eyes swept to the stream, an idea suddenly came to her.

"Let me try something." Taki pulled Sophitia down so they were sitting near the stream. She wished that she had a rag of some sort to collect the drifting water but ended up using her fingers and dabbing the water upon Sophitia's cheek as she held her chin with her free hand. She watched as the skin slowly repaired itself wherever she'd touched. She didn't stop bringing the water to her face until the wound was completely gone. "Well, how is it being human again? Wish you were a cat-beast instead?" Taki smiled as she continued to dab the water on anyplace else that the Anubite had hit her while she was down.

"Are you kidding? Human is the best feeling; I don't feel uncontrollable rage burning inside me, my nails don't break through my skin, and I no longer have a craving for shrimp." Sophitia seemed a little excited about that last point she made, which made Taki's grin widen.

"I kind of wonder if Setsuna ever felt that." Sophitia's head shot up as Taki mentioned her name. They both slowly turned to Setsuna who laid motionless, blood spilled from her stomach, her eyes were open and lifeless as they stared into the mass of woods and her black wavy locks fell slightly over her face. She was in her human form.

Sophitia and Taki looked at each other, noting the sadness in their eyes. Sophitia remained silent as her gaze swept to the stream, she stared at it for a few seconds then looked back up to Taki with raised eyebrows.

"Do you think it might work?" Sophitia asked. Taki raised an eyebrow as she looked to the stream.

"We'll just have to find out." She walked over to Setsuna's corpse and using all her strength lifted her from the ground and carried her to the stream. With Sophitia's help she dipped Setsuna's body in and held her so that she wouldn't be swept away. The two waited for any sign of life while as seconds passed their hope did as well. Taki looked to the side thinking that this was it until the body ripped from her hands and burst out of the water taking in a deep shallow-sounding gasp. Taki and Sophitia looked up in surprise as Setsuna coughed out the water that had slipped down her throat.

Setsuna took in deep breaths as she looked towards the two who still seemed a bit surprised that they had awakened someone from death. Setsuna raised an eyebrow.

"Why did you save me?" She spoke in a raspy sounding voice most likely because of the fact that she inhaled water.

"We figured that a dedicated demigod such as you didn't deserve death, although I've never saved a demigod before it's an interesting feeling to have done so." Sophitia spoke with a smile as she cocked her head to one side.

Setsuna smiled the warmest smile the two have ever seen her show as she blinked. "Thank you." She spoke softly. She looked down for a few seconds, unsure of how to thank them the way they deserve. She looked down at her gold bracelets, she chose one that took up one-third of the lower arm and gave it to Sophitia. "Both my mother and I want to thank you by giving you this, not only as a thank you but as a memento as well."

Sophitia took the thick gold bracelet and took a deeper look at it and smiled as she notices that it had writing on it that was in several different languages around the bracelet. She smiled as she noticed that Taki was looking at it over her shoulder.

"_One's element can be one's weapon, one's weapon can be one's power, one's power can be one's freedom._" Taki read aloud. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I wish I could tell you but that's only for the divinities and myself to know." Setsuna stated as she wrung out the hem of her skirt.

"That isn't fair." Sophitia noted as she looked up from her gift.

"I know, but I can't help it." Setsuna stated with a smirk as she stood herself up.

"Wait, since you were in the river of renewal, doesn't that mean that you're now human?" Taki asked as she raised an eyebrow. Setsuna just turned and looked at her briefly.

"No, since I am the true daughter of Bastet I am a cat-beast permanently." Setsuna sounded rather neutral about the thought. "I really have to work on my skills; they seem to be a bit rusty." She noted as she looked at her two swords that lay next to each other, The Anubite's blood was no longer at the tips. Setsuna walked over and eyed them, then placed them back into their sheaths.

"A bit rusty?" Taki noted sarcastically. "I wonder how you went through an army of those Anubites and lived."

"Yes, well, I was young then." Setsuna stated as she turned back to them.

"Young? How old were you, ninety-six?" Taki raised an eyebrow, then smirked as Setsuna glared at her. "Ready to go back?" 'It might be better to just change the subject.' Taki thought to herself after remembering that she was talking back to a demigod.

"Whenever you two are." Setsuna stated as she turned to Sophitia.

"Oh, I couldn't be more ready to go back, who knows if another Anubite shows up." Sophitia stated as she stood up with the help of Taki's strength pulling her up.

Setsuna noticed that Taki smiled sweetly as she pulled her up and Sophitia smiled back with, what Setsuna thought, a rather love struck look in her eyes that Taki returned.

"Did anything happen while I was being judged by Osiris?" Setsuna raised an eyebrow while trying her best not to grin, but the attempt was useless, it just made her face look awkward.

"Oh, you met with Osiris?" Taki seemed intrigued by this for some reason.

"Yes, my mother and him have been closely tied on some occasions, he said that he was surprise to see me- Hey! Don't change the subject!" Setsuna yelled, being angry mostly with herself for being so naïve as to let her change the subject.

"Well, I wish I could tell you but that's only for Sophitia and I know." Taki smiled cockily as she narrowed her eyes after she replied.

'I should've seen that remark coming.' Setsuna thought to herself as she gave a small smile as her eyes narrowed at Taki's cocky smile and Sophitia's grin that she tried to hide. "Fine, fine. I'll leave it alone then." Setsuna raised her hands to her 'Fine, fine.' and smiled as she strode over to the path that they took to enter the oasis, she stopped before she entered the woods and gestured to them to go ahead of her.

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The night washed over the sky and the sand dunes seemed softer underneath their feet as they noticed that the cool night air was rather refreshing after the walk _to_ the oasis underneath the beating sun. The cool night air seemed to get colder by the minute, but of course it didn't bother Setsuna, although now Sophitia wished that she'd kept her fur to keep her warm, then mentally slapped herself for thinking such a thing.

Setsuna began to feel awkward; she could feel Taki and Sophitia throwing glances at each other ever since they had left the oasis. She wasn't as stupid as to not know that their feelings for each other had grown tremendously.

'I feel so out of place, like a third wheel, like I'm in the way. Love was something, in all the years that have passed me by, I've never really took thought of it in a serious way, even if my own mother who is a goddess who greatly believes and promotes it.' Setsuna's amethyst eyes trailed over to Taki, who glanced at Sophitia briefly, blinked, then all of the sudden became a little flustered.

Setsuna's eyes tore away from her so that she would risk being caught staring at a human. 'I'm sure she's thinking of ways that they could warm each other up if I wasn't here.' Setsuna felt even worse at the thought, she closed her eyes and let her head lower a bit as she sighed. 'I guess I should be happy that they finally brought their love for each other out in the open, or so I'm guessing seeing as to how I was dead at the time. Funny thing is that we have the Anubite to thank for that.' Setsuna smirked at the thought.

"What are going to do after this Setsuna?" Setsuna jumped as Sophitia brought her out of her thoughts.

"Urm, I'm not sure, whatever my mother tells me to." She spoke plainly.

"You always do what Bastet wants you to?" Taki asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"I've already done everything else, so there's no point in trying to stop her, she always pokes in my head either way. What about you two? Go back to Japan or Greece and live happily together?" Setsuna's eyes never wavered as she stared at her sandy path before her as she spoke.

Taki and Sophitia were taken aback a bit by Setsuna's rather sudden question. Both either looked down or over to the side, both new that that wasn't exactly an option, as much as they would like it to be.

"We... We've never really thought about it, originally I was supposed to go back to Greece and Taki would stay in Japan, but..." Sophitia's eyes swept over to Taki, who looked back at her in a rather shyly manner.

"Perhaps it should stay that way..." Taki suddenly spoke in a tone that clearly shone her depression in the idea. Sophitia's looked became more of a shock as she sharply turned straight to Taki.

"What?!" Sophitia couldn't believe her own ears.

"It's for the best, trust me. If any demon lords found out... about... you and I... then your life would be in jeopardy and I don't want to risk it-"

"I don't care!" Sophitia shouted, trying to fight the moisture she felt in her eyes.

"But I do! And I'm sure that your family will become worried. As I said, it's for the best." Taki looked back at Sophitia sternly as she spoke, then looked away and closed her eyes.

Taki had cornered Sophitia with her last point. 'She could come with me to Greece then, but... I know how much she loves her demon hunting, how she said that she thought of it as a thrill, also... I'm ashamed to even think of this... but I'm afraid of what my family might think of her, not because of her sex, but because of the fact that she's a foreign demon hunter, they might think of her as strange and not trust her. Although I'd be willing to wait for them to trust, I'm sure it would be awkward for both Taki and my family.' Sophitia's gaze lowered, Taki was right; maybe it was for the best. Sophitia let out a sigh.

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Setsuna decided, or rather Bastet told her to just in case another Anubite should show up, to accompany them to the docks, of course all the way there, there was no sign of another Anubite, which made Setsuna feel even more like an intrusion of Sophitia and Taki's deserved privacy.

The two were happy to reach the port town because looking at nothing but sand for a day can be quite dulling. "Well, Sophitia, I hope that you enjoy being human again, and most of all..." Setsuna leaned closer so that she could lower her voice. "I hope that you two will find a time and place for you to be together without any doubts about your relationship." Taki and Sophitia both grinned widely at this and blushed slightly.

Setsuna smirked at the modesty that they clearly showed. "By the way Taki, I will be needing my scarab back please." Setsuna pointed at her necklace that was still wrapped around her wrist.

"Oh, sure." Taki unhooked the necklace and gave it to her, she noticed that Sophitia started staring at her long bracelet in awe between its size and all the different languages that were written into the gold.

"Should I ever see you again, I'll tell you what the message on that bracelet means. Don't lose it; it's magic of the gods and can be taken by anyone." Setsuna apparently noticed Sophitia eyeing it as well. Sophitia looked up as Setsuna spoke and nodded. Setsuna smiled. "My mother still believes that you would've made a fine daughter, and that you will remain in the book of cat-beasts." Setsuna waved at the both of them as she turned to go back to the desert. "I do hope to see you two again, its certainly been fun." She smiled warmly as she spoke as she departed; Sophitia could've sworn she saw Setsuna's eyes turn cat-like again as she left.

Sophitia smiled, she knew she was just teasing her by reminding her of what she used to be. She turned to Taki who smiled warmly at her. "Well? Shall we go see when our ships are going to be leaving?" She suggested in a dim sounding tone, like she really didn't want to talk about the topic that they were going to be parting. Sophitia let out a pout.

"Oh, must we?" Sophitia had a look of annoyance in her eyes.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. I don't like it either." Taki was about to say something else before Sophitia wrapped her arms around her neck, pulling her down and capturing the ninja's lips. Neither of them wanted to pull away; Taki wrapped one arms around the younger woman's waist while she placed her other hand on Sophitia's nape, pulling her closer as she felt her felt her fingertip touch the soft, golden hair. Sophitia sighed as she felt Taki's arms pull her closer, making her run her hand down Taki's torso and back up again as she let her other hand touch the back of Taki's head and felt her silky raven colored hair. Taki's breath quickened at the feeling of Sophitia's hand running down her torso, making her kiss deeper. The two finally broke apart, soft smiles on their faces as Sophitia rubbed her nose against Taki's, Taki gladly followed suit. "Okay, maybe we can stay a few days." Taki and Sophitia grinned widely at each other.

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Well? Wasn't too bad I hope ' There will be another chapter. There will also be a sequel eventually. You didn't think I'd leave Setsuna for death did you? _Laughs within her throat._

Just as a hint about the sequel, it will be a SC and Warcraft fic, yep, Arthus and everyone else will be in it. For those of you who have never played Warcraft III before, I'll try to describe the Warcraft characters the best that I can, or at least well enough so that I don't start to write paragraphs and paragraphs about what the character looks like. You could make it easier for me and buy it, but it's up to you and I would have to describe the characters anyway, either way, I do recommend it and as a hint if you click on the characters enough, they start saying the funniest things, even the evil undead guys. :)

To Witch-Hunter 51: I'm glad to know that Taki's 'death' shocked you; it was what I was aiming for in that part ;P Yeah I had to mention the necklace otherwise people wouldn't get it. Thanks for the two thumbs up; it means a lot :)

To PriestessLennoue: When did you start school? I don't start until Tuesday the 7th :O Ah, I see, Pocky can be hard to get when you really need it, I'm sure you get more eventually, knowing you, lol, just keep suckin' down those cokes in the meantime :) You should be happy to have learned about the sequel, so I won't be stopping the story permanently yet :)


	19. Epilogue Repairing Hearts

Do not own SC characters. Final chapter, more of an epilogue really and kind of a short one, but hey, at least there's a sequel comin' :)

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Chapter 19: Repairing Hearts

Taki walked alone on the Spanish port seeking this Soul Edge blade that seems to have everyone out in a panic, its evil aura was one even she could sense. But that wasn't the only thing that was constantly on her mind, it was the goddess of a woman that she had left behind. Her eyes, her hair, her lips and her delightful persona were all she could think about ever since she watched Sophitia's board the ship to Greece and sail away out of her life. She hated to think of it, she'd walk miles and think about her so intently that she wouldn't realize how far she'd gone.

The last thing that Sophitia and herself did together that she cherished was the last night that they stayed together... they made love. She remembered how nervous the both of them were at first, then how relaxed and willing they became once they were in each other's arms. Memories of the moment would flash into Taki's head and she'd hate it after a while; it would only cause her to want Sophitia more.

After two years of being alone she could still remember the feel of Sophitia's incredibly soft skin as she'd let her fingers caress her cheek then run down her neck, down the valley between her breasts and down the length of her stomach as she laid on top of Sophitia's warm, bare body.

In response she cooed and ran her hands up the length of Taki's back and her eyes remaining closed as she felt Taki's lips touch where the neck and collarbone meet. She spoke between each sharp intake of breath; "Taki... Your hands... They're so warm and gentle..." Sophitia whispered into Taki's ear as she placed one hand on Taki's nape and the other she sent down her side, making delightful shudders course through her body.

'Stop it!!!' Taki hit the side of her head with the heel of her palm as she chided herself. 'Just stop, your making it harder for yourself.' She thought to herself as she tried to send her mind to other places; she kept her eyes peeled and senses fine-tuned for any sign of the demonic blade, she knew it was in this area, she just had to wait for its next attack.

"A battle has ensued between a woman and the wielder of the demonic weapons, Cervantes De Leon, at the docks!" A young boy shouted to the streets. "Everyone must stay clear of the two!" Of course Taki was the only one who disobeyed this command as she weaved her way through the crowd of people as they left the streets. Why did they all leave right as the command was placed? Did they believe that the woman would surely die because of her foolishness and make this 'Cervantes' go on another aimless killing frenzy?

'Although what woman would be stubborn and pigheaded enough to try and kill a man who has killed the many who have tried to kill him?' Taki thought to herself as she raised an eyebrow and sighed as she ran to the fight.

She came to the docks and followed the several clangs from engaging blades, grunts and battle cries that came from the two. She looked at the two fighters, mostly of the woman who believed she could kill this immortal man. Her eyes widened at the sight, then smirked; "Oh... _that_ woman." Taki spoke as a smile spread across her face as she watched the woman fight brilliantly and fiercely against this immortal blade.

"Foolish woman!" Cervantes shouted as he swung one of his grotesque, blood-pumping blades at this self-righteous woman who dared to even think of coming to face him.

Taki watched in awe as the one she had, no, she still does love, screamed in rage as she clashed her sword against his and with all the strength she used she was able to shatter one of his immortal blades.

Taki was briefly blinded by the glitters of light that the shards reflected from the sun that slowly set. When she turned to look at the two smiling with glee for her love's triumph, it quickly faded as she saw the condition that her love was in; shards of many a size were embedded into her skin, blood stained every inch of her clothing and Taki could see even from her distance that the stains were growing immensely. Taki was surprised she could still stand, her facial expression showed rather dazed features. 'Perhaps because of the shock of what she's done, that she actually shattered a legendary immortal blade.' Taki concluded to herself.

Sophitia began heaving deeply, no doubt due to exhaustion and loss of blood. She closed her eyes briefly just to gather what strength she had left, if she could anyway.

"WENCH!!" Cervantes stared at his bladeless hilt in surprise and shock as if he was just run through by a harmless child. His gaze snapped onto Sophitia, who barely was able to lock her eyes on his. "Don't think just because you destroyed my blade that you'll get the chance to walk away with your life!"

Taki's eyes widened at the thought and narrowed at the undead pirate. "Over my dead body!" Taki whispered furiously as she sprang out of the street and ran towards the two.

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Sophitia didn't really listen nor did she care. All the shards that were embedded within her slightly numbed her body while they stung her insides. She just wanted the pain to end. She was at least hoped that she had pleased her gods by completing the task given to her.

She slowly lowered her head and closed her eyes as she heard Cervantes yell in blind rage as he ran towards her, his sword raised and more then ready to consume another soul.

Sophitia knew it wouldn't help much but she lazily raised her own sword to guard it. She was unable to lift her shield due to her draining strength.

As she awaited the blow she heard a loud 'clang' and in the corner of her eye noticed sparks flying through the air. She slowly looked up and even with feeling the pain that the shards were sending through her and the exhaustion of her own body, she saw a sight that lifted her heart and even seemed to numb the pain.

Taki stood before her, glaring at Cervantes with a look of dark confidence and inner hate as she pushed her dagger against Cervantes' single blade. Cervantes just glared at her darkly and with all his strength pushed his blade against hers.

Taki gritted her teeth as she pushed back. "Round two..." Taki stated as she narrowed her eyes. "Think you can beat me?" Taki darkly raised an eyebrow at him.

"Another woman?" Cervantes chuckled evilly, which made Taki's eyes narrow again. "I don't even think that question was worth asking." Cervantes suddenly jerked back, disengaging the two blades and lunged forward as he slashed his blade at her.

Taki merely took one step away as if his fighting method to her was child's play. Cervantes looked with narrowed eyes at her cocky grin that slowly appeared upon her face. "What's the matter? Could it be? Did a beautiful woman such as her wear you down?" Taki asked cockily and chuckled.

Cervantes roared with rage and annoyance as he continued to slash at her and she continued to dodge. "CUR!! Come and fight me! My patience is wearing thin because of your pointless stalling!"

"Alright." Taki stated plainly as her grin faded. She ran in such a fast speed towards him that not even Sophitia's awed gaze couldn't keep up. Cervantes defensively swung his blade horizontally at his fast-paced attacker, but proved futile as Taki jumped clear over the blade, ran behind him, hastily wrapped one arm around his neck and slit it with her other weapon hand. Taki watched as his blood spew down her hands and his torso. She swiftly went under his arm and appeared before him with a sneer on her face. "Heh, you were right, the question wasn't even worth asking." Cervantes couldn't move or speak; he just looked at her rather wide-eyed as he felt his own blood pour from his neck.

Taki smiled evilly then in a flash ran in and slammed her small sword into his stomach and heard him let out a loud grunt as he bent over from her blow and his grunt slowly developed into a painful yell as Taki pushed her blade upwards making even more blood pour upon her hands and fall in droplets upon her suit.

Taki quickly pulled her blade out as she noticed that Cervantes' insides began to burn from the inside out. Taki knew this wasn't going to be good so she ran over to the blood stained and battered Sophitia, who just watched her come and smiled faintly.

When Taki came close to her, she noticed that Sophitia's eyes began to look wary as well as her balance. 'She's going to faint...' Taki noted alarmingly as she stared at Sophitia, who seemed to be so lost within her own thoughts to really notice her own condition.

'Can this really be?' Sophitia thought with hope. 'After two years of not seeing her, speaking to her, listening to the sound of her voice, could this be... my Taki? It's hard to tell whether this is really a dream or not. If this is a dream, I certainly never want it to end!'

Sophitia stared at the lovely ninja before her with a soft gaze that flooded with love. 'Oh, how I've longed to hear the sound of her voice again. All those nights that I couldn't sleep and I'd turn in my bed hoping that she would appear next to me, looking right back at me with the same love in her eyes that she always showed while we stayed in Egypt. And how I've dreamed of her taking me in her arms and capturing my lips with her own and kissing me just as passionately as she always did, she always took my breath away when she did that.'

Sophitia's gaze became a little more serious as she stared at her love that she so desperately wanted to feel. 'I must know. Please tell me this is real, oh Hephaestus, you've sent me so many dreams of her and I'm tired of waking up and never finding her in my arms. Please... Please let this be real...' Sophitia slowly and shakily raised a hand trying to reach Taki's cheek. Taki just watched with worry in her eyes, which darted between Sophitia's eyes and her shaking hand.

"Ta... Taki..." Sophitia whispered. She was merely an inch away from Taki's cheek when everything around her started to move and become black. The next thing she knew she felt the wind rush through her as she lost the strength in her legs completely and felt the faint feeling of strong, warm arms catch her and lift her from the ground.

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Sophitia awoke in the middle of a forest to find that she was covered with a brown cotton blanket, had a dry mouth and throbbing, aching muscles. Everything physically different about her she didn't seem to notice.

'It... it was all just a dream then?' "Argh! Hephaestus, why do you torture me so!?" Sophitia screamed in frustration and annoyance, then sighed and slowly relaxed on her bed, feeling the many tears stream down the side of her face. "Why do you tease someone who completes your tasks without question? Why do you choose to trick me into believing that my love has come back to me?" Sophitia spoke to the sky, her voice cracking and tears endlessly streaming down her face.

She shut her eyes tightly as she rolled over and let all her tears come out and land upon the pillow. After a few minutes of crying hysterically into her pillow, which seemed to never cease, she felt a warm, gentle hand rub up and down the length of her back in a slow, calm motion. Sophitia's hysterical breathing seemed to slow as the gentle hand continued to sooth her.

"Sophitia? Is there something wrong?" Sophitia heard someone whisper in her ear, a familiar, deep, caring voice that she loved so much as it sent so many different feelings to mix within her heart, a feeling that she loved more than anything. She sprang up just so she could turn and find her love look down at her with concern flooding her face.

As much as it hurt Sophitia rose herself from her bed with a slightly gaping mouth from shock then let her fingers touch Taki's cheek, neck, arms and anywhere else she pleased just to make sure that this wasn't another illusion. Taki grinned as she realized why Sophitia was doing this and why she was crying. She never tore her gaze away from Sophitia's eyes.

"Miss me?" Taki's grin widened. She watched as Sophitia's gaze locked onto hers and breathed in what sounded like a gasp as her gaze dropped to Taki's lips. Taki watched as Sophitia's eyes suddenly portrayed need, but then again the word 'need' was an understatement, it looked more like want and longing and... desire.

Sophitia couldn't take it, she lunged forward and let her lips move against Taki's and let her tongue take in as much of Taki as she could. Taki had to stop them both from falling backwards because of Sophitia lunge, when she did, she slowly let her hands roam up Sophitia's back, making Sophitia lean more into Taki's arms. After a few blissful minutes the two finally, yet a little reluctantly, broke apart. They both smiled at each other showing the warmest and happiest of smiles.

"I've missed you too." Taki stated. Sophitia replied with a small kiss.

"What are you going to do with me now?" Sophitia raised an eyebrow. Taki looked up in thought, although she didn't really look like she was thinking, just teasing.

"Oh... I don't know... you were beaten up pretty badly and I was able to take out all the shards despite all the twitching you did while you were unconscious. I suppose I might as well take you home, you still have quite a bit of healing to do." Taki stated with a smile.

"Are you sure you won't mind taking me home? What about all you said about your enemies finding out?" Sophitia raised an eyebrow.

"For you... I'd take any risk, and besides, no one can beat us; we've beaten an immortal pirate!" Taki started speaking to her in between alternate angled kisses. "I just...want.... To be.... With you."

Sophitia grinned widely as she nuzzled Taki's throat and rested her head upon Taki's upper chest, feeling Taki's warm, strong arms wrap tightly around her. "I couldn't agree more."

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I know that one took me a while but I've been having computer problems. I hope this epilogue was satisfactory. The sequel might start in maybe a week or two.

To Witch-Hunter 51: You owning Warcraft is good to know.


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